Goalkeeper Diogo Costa pf Portugal saves a penalty by Slovenia in the Euro 2024 Round of 16 game in Frankfurt, Germany, July 1, 2024. /CFP
A game of epic personal drama and tears for Cristiano Ronaldo ended with his Portugal making the Euro 2024 quarterfinals after beating Slovenia in a penalty shootout on Monday.
The Round of 16 game went the distance because Ronaldo's extra-time spot kick in the 114th minute was saved by Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak – leaving him in tears and consoled by every teammate before restarting play. Regulation and extra time finished 0-0.
When they went to penalties, Ronaldo scored his and Portugal's first, and teammate Diogo Costa saved all three of Slovenia's kicks from Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic.
Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva also scored for Portugal to seal the shootout 3-0 with two kicks to spare.
"I was sad and now I'm overjoyed. This is what football gives you," Ronaldo said in translated comments in a post-game interview. "You cannot explain it."
Portugal will face France in the quarterfinals on Friday in Hamburg, a rematch of the Euro 2016 final that Portugal won in Paris after Ronaldo went off injured early.
Costa had already made his first save when Ronaldo walked up to take Portugal's first kick of the shootout, and placed it perfectly low beyond Oblak diving to his right.
Ronaldo looked apologetically to the massed Portugal fans behind the goal and put his hands together as if in prayer. The fans responded with a bellowing shout of "Siuuuu" – their football icon's trademark goal scream.
Costa answered the rest of those prayers with as good a penalty shootout as any goalkeeper ever had. Then he was in tears, too.
"This is probably the best game of my life," Costa said in translated comments. "I focused as hard as I could. I breathed in several times and went with my gut."
Half an hour earlier, Ronaldo was distraught and crying at halftime in extra time after his penalty was saved by Oblak, diving to his left to push the ball against a post.
"We all know that Cris is the hardest worker. I understand how frustrated he is," Costa said. "For me, it's an honor to play on the same team."