Undoubtedly, the media will keep discussing Cristiano Ronaldo’s missed penalty in the 105th minute of the sixth knockout match. Despite having scored 11 goals against Jan Oblak during his La Liga career, Ronaldo was unable to overcome the Slovenian “spider-man” when they faced off at the international level.
The penalty was Ronaldo’s ninth of the match against Jan Oblak, but he failed to score. The Portuguese superstar was more desperate than ever to find a goal in the tournament held in Germany. Before this match, Ronaldo had gone scoreless in seven consecutive matches at the Euros and World Cups, marking the longest drought in the career of football’s greatest goalscorer.
Portugal controlled the ball 72.9% of the time, dominating nearly every situation and allowing Slovenia only a few shining moments.
It’s not surprising to see statistics showing 20 shots aimed at Slovenia’s goal by Portuguese strikers, but Ronaldo and his teammates managed only six shots on target, including three free kicks by Ronaldo himself.
Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva, Rafael Leao and even central defenders like Pepe and Ruben Dias all had chances to shoot at the Slovenian goal but none of them could beat the “sticky” hands of Jan Oblak, Slovenia’s best player in the match. He blocked all shots from the Portuguese players, including Ronaldo’s 105th-minute penalty to send the match at the Frankfurt Arena into a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of stalemate.
Jan Oblak was outstanding, but Diogo Costa, his counterpart on the other side of the pitch, was even more impressive. Despite having little to do for most of the match due to Slovenia’s strikers rarely reaching the Portuguese half, Costa became busier towards the end as his teammates showed signs of fatigue and Slovenia increased their attacks.
Costa used his feet to block Benjamin Sesko’s shot in the 115th minute, a move that TV commentators likened to Jan Oblak’s penalty save. The Porto goalkeeper’s talent shone in the penalty shootout as well, where he saved all three attempts from Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec, and Benjamin Verbic. Achieving a 100% save rate in the shootout is an unprecedented feat in Euro history.
