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New footage has emerged of Cristiano Ronaldo being moved to tears after seeing his mother crying in the stands following his penalty miss in Portugal’s last-16 clash with Slovenia at Euro 2024.
Ronaldo was given the opportunity to put his side in front in the first period of extra time after a goalless stalemate in normal time when Diogo Jota was brought down in the penalty area.
He stepped up to open his account at this summer’s Euros, but his spot-kick was kept out by a brilliant save from Jan Oblak. Ronaldo managed to keep things together for a couple of minutes until the half-time whistle blew, but was then in floods of tears as Roberto Martinez gave his players a pep talk during the interval.
A fresh video has now shown Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores Aveiro, 69, weeping in the stands after his miss, with the striker appearing to look up at her to see the reaction, sparking his emotional strop on the pitch.
Ronaldo, who wore the captain’s armband, had to be consoled by his team-mates before the second half of extra time got underway.
Cristiano Ronaldo had his penalty saved by Jan Oblak in extra time on Monday night
His 69-year-old mother, Dolores Aveiro (top) was seen crying in the stands after Ronaldo’s miss
Video footage appears to show Ronaldo looking up into the stands and seeing his mother weeping
This sparked an emotional reaction from Ronaldo as he burst into tears while Roberto Martinez gave the team a pep talk
Ronaldo had to be consoled by his team-mates before the second half of extra time started
Ronaldo and Co were unable to find the breakthrough in extra time, but finally got their act together to prevail on penalties.
The 39-year-old superstar stepped up to take Portugal’s first penalty after Slovenia’s first effort had been kept out by Diogo Costa, and this time he found the bottom corner.
He apologised to the Portugal fans behind the goal after scoring, knowing that his earlier penalty could have prevented a shootout from being needed to separate the teams.
From that moment, Costa took centre stage as he saved another two penalties to become the first goalkeeper in Euros history to save three spot-kicks in a single shootout.
Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva converted their own penalties to give Portugal a 3-0 shootout win as they booked themselves a quarter-final against France on Friday.
Ronaldo was visibly relieved to see his side get through, but was still very emotional when he spoke to the media after the game.
Asked to reflect on what was going through his head when he failed to score his penalty in extra time, Ronaldo stormed out of an interview with Sport TV.
‘The strongest sometimes have their days too. I was down, sad, because when the team needs it… I’ll talk later, I can’t do it,’ he said before walking away from the press area.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his spot-kick in the penalty shootout and apologised to the Portugal fans for his earlier miss
Diogo Costa then took centre stage as he saved three penalties to secure Portugal’s place in the quarter-finals
Ronaldo stormed out of an interview with Sport TV after the game as he was still too upset after his penalty miss, despite his team winning
Ronaldo did speak to other members of the media and put his remarkable reaction down to his frustration at being unable to provide the breakthrough for his team, but insisted he had forgotten all about his penalty miss after his side went through in the end.
‘Sadness at the start is joy at the end,’ he explained. ‘That’s what football is. Moments, inexplicable moments.
‘One direct shot to give the team the lead and I didn’t manage it. Oblak made a good save … I will have to see the penalty again. I don’t know if I shot well or badly, but I haven’t missed once all year, and when I needed it most, Oblak saved it.
‘I think Portugal deserved it because we had more authority. Slovenia spent almost the entire game defending. It’s very difficult and the whole team is to be congratulated, especially our goalkeeper who made three very good saves.’
‘It’s football, the one who fails is the one who tries too,’ Ronaldo added to RTP. ‘Obviously it’s a frustration when we can’t score but it’s football.
‘I already forgot [about it] because the end result was positive, we won, it’s the most important thing. Sometimes it’s difficult to score penalties, I’ve scored more than 200 in my career.
‘But I lost twice this year on penalties and today I won. Football sometimes has to be fair and today it was fair because I think Portugal deserved to win.’
He also posted a separate nine-word message to fans on social media, writing on X: ‘Inexplicable moments. Let’s give it our all! Thank you’.
Ronaldo claimed after the game that he had forgotten about his miss as his team got through
There have been calls for Martinez to drop Ronaldo, but he backed his captain after the game
Ronaldo is still yet to score in his sixth European Championship, and there have been calls for Martinez to drop his captain from the starting XI.
The former Everton and Belgium manager seems to have no intention of doing that, though, and hailed Ronaldo for setting Portugal on their way to victory in the shootout just minutes after his penalty miss in extra time.
‘Ronaldo missed a penalty and then was decisive when he started the penalty shootout, he paved the way,’ Martinez said.
‘It was a victory for unity, from the dressing room and Cristiano is our captain and he showed that in life and in football there are difficult moments and we can’t give up.
‘We have to keep going and it was a demonstration of what to do when things aren’t going well.’