Roberto Martínez spoke at his pride of Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portugal captain displayed enormous mettle to take the first spot-kick in a penalty shootout about 15 minutes after crying having seen his extra-time effort from 12 yards saved by Jan Oblak. The Portugal manager said the 39-year-old offers a shining example of the resilience required at the elite level and insisted he was adamant Ronaldo would lead his side to victory to tee up a quarter-final against France.
Ronaldo scored Portugal’s first spot-kick after Diogo Costa saved Slovenia’s opening effort, from Josip Ilicic, and the Portugal goalkeeper went on to save all three of the opposition’s penalties. Afterwards Ronaldo said “sadness at the start is joy at the end” and praised Costa. “Portugal deserved it because we had more authority,” Ronaldo said. “Slovenia spent almost the entire game defending ... it’s very difficult and the whole team is to be congratulated, especially our goalkeeper.”
