DPA
Frankfurt
Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed this will be his last European Championship after Portugal reached a quarter-final with France following his own personal Slovenian saga.
The only man to play in six Euros, and the tournament’s record ever scorer with 14 goals, is still to net this time outside of a penalty shoot-out. A winner against the goal-shy French, whose players have yet to score a single goal from open play, could be written in the stars in Hamburg on Friday.
“It’s undoubtedly my last European Championship,” he told Portuguese reporters after Monday’s game, given he will be 43 at the next Euros.
“But it’s amazing what football has brought me. The joy of the game, the joy of seeing my fans, my family and the affection that people have for me.”
It looked like his Euro journey could end in floods of tears after Jan Oblak superbly saved his penalty in extra-time of the 0-0 draw.
The 39-year-old’s emotions became the big talking point on social media, with images of Ronaldo and his mother in the stands crying dominating coverage of the last-16 game.
But Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa spared his captain more pain by first denying Slovenia’s Benjamin Sesko after the onrushing striker looked near certain to score after Pepe’s mistake.
Costa then became the first man to save three penalties in a Euro shoot-out as the 2016 champions progressed, with Ronaldo predictably scoring their first spot kick.
“You can’t fail if you don’t try,” said Ronaldo, who apologized to Portugal fans for the first penalty miss after converting in the shoot-out.
“Making people happy is what motivates me the most,” he added as tears almost flowed again. “We will now have a difficult game against France, who are one of the favourites for the title. But we are going to war.”
Ronaldo was in shock and crying after having a 105th-minute penalty saved by Jan Oblak, who as Atletico Madrid goalkeeper knows him well from his days at Atletico Madrid.
It was the culmination of frustration for Ronaldo who also failed to convert on three free-kicks, and on a big chance in the 89th as the score remained 0-0 after 120 minutes - and Ronaldo still scoreless at his sixth Euros.
But the 39-year-old captain then stepped up again to convert in the deciding shoot-out along with Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva.
Costa became the first goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a shoot-out at the Euros when he saved the three attempts from Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic.
Man of the Match Costa had also thwarted a golden opportunity from Benjamin Sesko late in extra time as Portugal had a lucky escape into the quarter-finals where they face France who edged Belgium 1-0 earlier in the day.
Portugal beat France in the 2016 final but have also suffered painful defeats against them in the semi-finals of the 1984 and 2000 Euros and 2006 World Cup.
Slovenia leave the tournament with four draws in open play after offering stiff resistance in their first ever knock-out match.
Emotional roller-coaster
“I was unbelievably sad and then overjoyed. That’s football, you can’t explain it,” Ronaldo said of his emotional roller-coaster.
“I tried to decide the match but I didn’t manage to convert. Oblak saved superbly. I was down in the dumps and then on top of the world.
“We had to work but I think we deserved to win. Congratulations to Diogo Costa.”
Costa said: “This is probably the best game of my life. I focused on doing what I had to do. I went with my gut feeling.”
Looking back at Ronaldo’s missed penalty, he said: “We all felt we needed to keep believing. We believed until the very end and we’re all very happy.”
