Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as Portugal were made to work hard to eliminate Slovenia from Euro 2024 in post-match penalties after a goalless draw in regular time.
A sobbing Ronaldo had to be consoled by team-mates after Jan Oblak brilliantly saved his penalty in the 105th minute but, following a gruelling goalless draw, he converted Portugal’s first effort in the shootout as goalkeeper Diogo Costa made saves from Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic to send them through.
Costa’s heroics allowed Bernardo Silva to convert the winning kick after Bruno Fernandes had also scored, and came after a similarly crucial one-on-one save from Benjamin Sesko deep in extra-time as Slovenia came agonisingly close to a historic upset.
Predictably, though, it was Ronaldo who dominated the encounter. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward was on a mission to open his account at Euro 2024 having blanked in the group stage and cut an emotionally-charged figure from the start.
His efforts on goal over the course of the 120 minutes, including four unsuccessful free-kicks, all prompted animated reactions but his anger was replaced by devastation after Oblak denied him from the spot shortly before the halfway point of extra-time.
For Portugal, it was left to Costa to ensure Ronaldo’s redemption, the Porto goalkeeper following up his vital save from Sesko with a hat-trick of stops in the shootout to set up a last-eight tie which will pit Ronaldo against Kylian Mbappe on Friday.