Cristiano Ronaldo spoke about the penalty kick he missed and his crying fit, during his country's Portugal match against Slovenia, on Monday, in the round of 16 of the European Championship.
Ronaldo missed a penalty kick in extra time to end the match in a goalless draw, but he scored in the penalty shootout and goalkeeper Diogo Costa saved three shots, as Portugal beat Slovenia and qualified for the quarter-finals.
Portugal had the lion's share of chances during the match, but its goalkeeper also excelled in making two saves from Slovenian striker Benjamin Sisko.
There is no doubt that the spotlight will be on the legendary player Ronaldo (39 years old) after he wasted many opportunities other than the penalty kick in extra time, which caused him to cry and his teammates gathered around him to console him, knowing that he needed to score to become the oldest player to score in the European Championship in its history. .
Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva scored for Portugal in the shootout, while Costa saved all three kicks taken by Josip Ilicic, Juri Palkovic and Benjamin Verbic.
The Saudi Al-Nasr striker said in an interview after the match, before he started crying again:
“Even the strongest people have their bad days. I was at rock bottom when the team needed me the most.”
"Sadness at the beginning and joy at the end. This is football. Moments, moments that cannot be explained."
"I feel sad and happy at the same time. But the important thing is to enjoy this. The team did an exceptional job."
“We fought until the end, and if you analyze the match, I think you will find that we deserved it because we were the most dominant.”
Costa achieved a record, becoming the first goalkeeper in the history of the European Championship to save three penalty kicks.
The Portuguese goalkeeper of Porto said: “This was probably the best match of my life. I focused on doing what I had to do. I went with my feeling. Of course we analyzed the penalty takers, but the players changed the way they shot. I am very happy because I helped the team.”
Portugal will meet France in the quarter-finals on Friday.
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