Portugal and Ronaldo save face as Costa’s shootout heroics sink Slovenia

Apology accepted. In fairness, Cristiano Ronaldo simply does not shirk responsibility and by taking and scoring the first penalty in, the Portugal captain made amends for failing to score his spot kick in extra time, which was saved magnificently by Jan Oblak.

In the end it was the Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa who was the hero, making three extraordinary saves, the last of which thwarted Benjamin Verbic down to his right. Even Ronaldo seemed a touch remorseful as Slovenia, whose steely resistance was eventually broken in the cruellest of manners, were undone.

Portugal racked up almost twice as many first-half passes as their opponents but Slovenia finished the first period with a punch, Benjamin Sesko sending a stinging shot at Costa a few minutes after Nuno Mendes nipped in to prevent Andraz Sporar from taking aim after Petar Stojanovic stormed down the right flank. João Palhinha hit a post with the final action of the first half but Portugal headed down the tunnel with an uncomfortable sense of what might have been.

As a white haze from the flares lit by the Slovenia fans behind Oblak’s goal filled the pitch midway through the second half, Martínez recognised the need to change the rhythm of an increasingly painful contest and replaced Vitinha with Diogo Jota. Regardless, the second half took on an identical mould to the first.

It was nothing compared to the emotions he felt after lifting his head to see his 105th-minute penalty had been pushed on to a post and clear by Oblak, who flew low to his left to make a superb left-handed save. Ronaldo sobbed uncontrollably during the extra-time interval, his teammates taking it in turns to console him. Diogo Dalot grabbed Ronaldo by the neck and shouted some words in his ear. There was nothing worth saying at the end of the shootout.

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