The two teams met in the March training session and the Slovenians won 2:0 in Ljubljana. This time they defended excellently and followed up on three draws, during which they only conceded twice in the basic Euro group. Ronaldo himself sent seven shots at their goal, but he lacked accuracy in the finish, or the goalkeeper Oblak stood in his way, who also neutralized his penalty kick.
At the end of extra time, goalkeeper Costa saved the Portuguese from elimination during Šešek’s attack and then shone again in the penalty shootout. With them, Ronaldo did not hesitate and opened the door to the quarter-finals for the European champions from 2016.
The Spanish coach of Portuguese favorites Martínez returned to the proven line-up he started with against Turkey after the sensational loss against Georgia. On the other hand, the opponent would have fielded the same eleven for the fourth time in the tournament, if he had not missed the scorer of the goal against Denmark, Janža, for two yellow cards. His place on the left side of the defense was taken by Balkovec.
Ronaldo was the top scorer of the basic groups with twelve attempts and also entered the round of 16 with great gusto. Already in the 8th minute, Leao sent him into a chance with a vertical shot, but he did not have time to finish. The Slovenian defenders treated the five-time winner of the Golden Ball without respect, and especially Drkušič made his stay on the pitch very uncomfortable.
After half an hour, Ronaldo got the first shot, but his header didn’t bother goalkeeper Oblak much. In his excellent discipline, he sent the ball just over the crossbar from a free kick.
The Slovenians almost did not attack and did not use the skills of the fastest player of the tournament Šešek in the first half. At the end of the first act, the Leipzig striker did manage to get a shot from distance, but it went straight into Costa’s ready arms. At the other end, he tried from the second wave of Palinha and the ball from his boot brushed against the left post.
After switching sides, Portugal’s right back Cancelo drew attention to himself several times with a successful dribble. Goalkeeper Oblak also succeeded in Ronaldo’s next free kick. After an hour of play, Šeško ran away from 41-year-old Pepe for the first time, but missed the goal. The expected final pressure from the Portuguese did not come, Oblak won two more duels with Ronaldo and the match reached extra time.
In it, Jota broke into the penalty area and fell over Drkušič’s set leg. However, Ronaldo did not convert the penalty and broke down in tears in the teammates’ club during the break. The Slovenian coach Matjaž Kek watched the match only from the stands, he received a red card for protesting.
X factor Costa
At the end of extra time, after Pepe’s mistake, Šeško again went alone at the goalkeeper, but Costa avoided the elimination. In the penalty shoot-out, none of the Slovenians subsequently beat him. On the other hand, Ronaldo successfully saved the penalty and Fernandes and Bernardo Silva did equally well.
Diogo Costa was named player of the match. “This is probably the biggest match of my life. Of course, we analyzed the penalty taker, but players change and the way they shoot also changes. I’m glad I could help the team,” said the Portuguese penalty magician. He went down in history as the first goalkeeper at the Euros who did not capitulate even once in the shootout.
“He saved us. There are moments that can’t even be explained,” Ronaldo praised his performance and continued: “At first I was very sad and now I’m happy. That’s football. I messed up that penalty, it doesn’t happen to me often.”
According to statistics, he has a record of 163 conversions and 30 unsuccessful conversions in top football. At the age of 39 years and 147 days, he became the oldest penalty taker at the European Championship.
2024-07-01 22:43:56
#Ronaldos #penalty #extinguished #Costa #Portuguese #quarterfinals #shootout #sport #Czech #television
