New images have emerged of Cristiano Ronaldo moved to tears after seeing his mother crying in the stands following his missed penalty in Portugal’s last-16 clash with Slovenia at Euro 2024.
Ronaldo had a chance to put his side ahead in the first period of extra time after a goalless draw in regulation time when Diogo Jota was brought down in the area.
Ronaldo opened the scoring at this summer’s European Championships, but his spot-kick was saved by a brilliant save from Jan Oblak. Ronaldo managed to keep his cool for a couple of minutes until the half-time whistle blew, but then burst into tears as Roberto Martinez lectured his players during the interval.
A new video now shows Ronaldo’s mother Dolores Aveiro, 69, crying in the stands after his miss, with the striker appearing to look at her for a reaction, sparking his emotional outburst on the pitch.
Ronaldo, wearing the captain’s armband, had to be consoled by his teammates before the second half of extra time began.
Cristiano Ronaldo saw his penalty saved by Jan Oblak in extra time on Monday night
His mother, Dolores Aveiro (above), 69, was seen crying in the stands after Ronaldo’s miss.
Video footage appears to show Ronaldo looking towards the stands and seeing his mother crying.
This sparked an emotional reaction from Ronaldo, who burst into tears while Roberto Martinez gave a motivational talk to the team.
Ronaldo had to be consoled by his teammates before the second half of extra time began.
Ronaldo and company failed to open the scoring in extra time, but eventually managed to win on penalties.
The 39-year-old superstar stepped up to take Portugal’s first penalty after Diogo Costa had saved Slovenia’s first attempt, and this time the ball found the bottom corner.
He apologised to the Portuguese fans behind goal after scoring, knowing that his earlier penalty could have prevented a shoot-out being needed to separate the teams.
From that moment on, Costa rose to prominence by stopping two more penalties and becoming the first goalkeeper in the history of the European Championship to stop three spot-kicks in a single shoot-out.
Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva converted their own penalties to give Portugal a 3-0 shootout win and book their place in the quarter-finals against France on Friday.
Ronaldo was visibly relieved to see his team through, but was still very emotional when he spoke to the media after the match.
Asked to reflect on what was going through his head when he failed to convert his penalty in extra time, Ronaldo stormed out of an interview with Sport TV.
“The strongest also have their days sometimes. I was down, sad, because when the team needs it… I’ll talk about it later, I can’t do it,” he said before leaving the press area.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his penalty in the shootout and apologized to the Portuguese fans for his previous mistake
Diogo Costa was the star of the show, stopping three penalties to secure Portugal’s passage to the quarter-finals.
Ronaldo stormed out of an interview with Sport TV after the match because he was still so upset about his missed penalty, even though his team won.
Ronaldo spoke to other members of the media and attributed his remarkable reaction to his frustration at not being able to get his team through, but insisted he had completely forgotten about his missed penalty after his side went ahead late on.
“Sadness at the beginning is joy at the end,” he explained. “Football is like that: moments, inexplicable moments.”
‘A direct shot to put the team ahead and I didn’t get it. Oblak made a good save… I’ll have to watch the penalty again. I don’t know if I shot well or badly, but I haven’t missed a single shot all year and when I needed it most, Oblak stopped it.
“I think Portugal deserved it because we had more authority. Slovenia spent almost the entire match defending. It’s very difficult and we have to congratulate the whole team, 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 frustrating when we can’t score, but it’s football.
‘I’ve forgotten about it because the final result was positive, we won, that’s the most important thing. Sometimes it’s difficult to score penalties, I’ve scored more than 200 in my career.
“But this year I lost twice on penalties and today I won. Football sometimes has to be fair and today it was because I think Portugal deserved to win.”
She also posted a nine-word message to her followers on social media: “Unexplainable moments. Let’s give it our all! Thank you.”
Ronaldo said after the match that he had forgotten about his mistake as his team moved forward.
There were calls for Martinez to leave Ronaldo out, but he backed his captain after the match.
Ronaldo is yet to score in his sixth European Championship, and some have called for Martinez to drop his captain from the starting XI.
However, the former Everton and Belgium boss appears to have no intention of doing so and praised Ronaldo for putting Portugal on course for victory in the shoot-out just minutes after missing his spot-kick in extra time.
“Ronaldo missed a penalty and then was decisive when he started the shootout, he opened the way,” said Martinez.
‘It was a victory of unity, of the dressing room and Cristiano is our captain and he showed that in life and in football there are difficult moments and we cannot give up.
“We have to move forward and it was a demonstration of what to do when things don’t go well.”