Portugal was lucky to qualify for the quarterfinals of EURO 2024 after overcoming Slovenia on penalties, after a 120-minute match that almost turned into a disaster for Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 39-year-old superstar was in tears after missing the penalty kick in extra time. But his teammate, goalkeeper Diogo Costa, compensated for his senior by blocking all three of Slovenia’s penalties on penalties.

Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and then Benjamin Verbic were all unable to beat Costa. Ronaldo took responsibility for taking the first penalty kick and redeemed himself by defeating Oblak. Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva then both succeeded in bringing Portugal forward.

Slovenia still deserves praise. Despite being 51 places behind mighty Portugal in the FIFA rankings, Slovenia played resiliently. They even had a chance to end the match earlier if Benjamin Sesko beat Diogo Costa in a face-to-face situation.

Portugal will play France in the quarter-finals in Hamburg on July 5