Monday in front of thousands of fans at the Frankfurt Arena Cristiano Ronaldo Tears turned to joy when the Portuguese captain failed to score in extra time of the crucial match against Slovenia, but goalkeeper Diego Costa saved three penalties in the shootout. The Euro Cup Qualified for 2024 quarter finals.
According to Reuters, the final match of the league stage played in the German city of Frankfurt was quite thrilling, where Portugal and Slovenia failed to score any goals in the allotted time.
In the first half of extra time, Cristiano Ronaldo controversially had a chance to score from a penalty awarded for a foul on Diego Jota, but his effort was saved by Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak, with an emotional Ronaldo afterwards. I cried.
After the game was tied 0-0 in extra time, Portuguese goalkeeper Diego Costa saved Cristiano Ronaldo from embarrassment in the penalty shootout to send his team into the top eight, where they will face France in the quarter-finals. Ga, who beat Belgium 1-0 on Monday.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo made no mistake in the shootout and successfully slotted the goal into the opposition net.
The 39-year-old Ronaldo played the full 120 minutes of the match but has failed to score in eight consecutive major tournament matches.
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez now has to decide whether Ronaldo will be part of the team in the top eight stage or not.
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According to the French news agency AFP, Ronaldo said in an interview after the match that “Even the strongest people have (bad) days.” I did absolutely nothing, when the team needed me the most.’
He said, ‘Initially the sadness eventually turned into happiness. That’s football. These were indescribable moments.’
He said: ‘I feel sad and happy at the same time, but the important thing is that everyone enjoys it. The team has done a phenomenal job, we fought until the end and if you look at it and if you have experience of the game, I think we deserved the win because we had more options. Slovenia spent the whole game defending and when that happens it becomes difficult.’
Portugal players celebrate after winning the Euro 2024 match between Portugal and Slovenia at the Frankfurt Arena on July 1, 2024 (AFP)
After the match, Portugal’s coach Roberto Martinez praised Ronaldo and said that such times come to big players.
Martinez said: ‘Ronaldo failed to score from the penalty (in extra time) but then in the decisive penalty shootout he paved the way for the win.’
“It was a win for the unity of the dressing room,” added the Portuguese coach. Cristiano is our captain and he showed that in life and in football there are difficult moments and we cannot give up. We have to continue this (journey) and it was a demonstration of what to do when things are not going well.’
Earlier on Monday, in the match played in the German city of Dusseldorf, France defeated Belgium by one goal to zero and made it to the quarter-finals.
The only goal of the match was scored by French player Jan Vertonghen in the last minute of the match.
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2024-07-03 14:59:54