First penalty shootout and Ronaldo in tears! Portugal can thank its goalkeeper

Monday’s European Championship programme ended with a clash between Portugal and Slovenia, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s team as a big favourite. However, there was not much missing and Portugal could say goodbye to the tournament before the gates of the quarter-finals.

Portugal topped Group F, already assured of first place after their matches against the Czech Republic and Turkey. Therefore, the final loss to Georgia was not too disappointing for Roberto Martinez’s charges.

Slovenia played in Group C together with England, Denmark and Serbia. Although they were considered the underdogs, they managed to draw all three matches and were promoted from third place.

It will probably come as no surprise that Portugal entered the semi-final match as the paper favourite. However, they certainly could not underestimate anything, we could see the quality of the Slovenians for example in the duel with England.

After a relatively cautious first half, the team around captain Cristiano Ronaldo started to step up the pressure. But the goal would not come, even though the ball possession climbed to 64%.

In the end, regulation time didn’t bring a goal, so it was time for extra time. At the end of the first half, the head referee ordered a penalty kick after a foul on Diogo Jota, which was taken by Ronaldo. However, he did not challenge Jan Oblak.

The holder of five Ballon d’Or was well aware of his hesitation and the cameras even caught him in tears during the short break. And it could have been even worse if Benjamin Šeško had converted a breakaway in the 115th minute. But Rui Costa made a great save against the Leipzig striker.

Costa the hero of Portugal

He then defused all three Slovenian attempts in the penalty shootout, the first of this year’s championship, to send Portugal into the quarter-finals. There, on Friday 5 July at 21:00, they will face France, whose players have not scored a single goal in the tournament so far.

“This is probably the best game of my life. I’m focused on what I have to do. I was guided by my inner feeling. Of course we analysed the penalty shooters, but players change and the way they shoot changes. I am very happy that I could help the team,” said goalkeeper Costa after the game.

Source: UEFA, EURO 2024