Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed his disappointment at missing a penalty during Portugal‘s match with Austria, an incident that coincided with the forward’s record breaking appearance for the nation.
Portugal were held to a stalemate draw by the Austrians in Paris on Saturday – their second consecutive draw of the tournament.
Despite dominating much of the contest, Ronaldo and his teammates couldn’t find the net, with their best chance coming when the Real Madrid man took a penalty. But the 31-year-old sent the set-piece crashing into the post.
The contest marked Ronaldo’s 128th appearance for Portugal – a new record for the side – but the No.7 missed the chance to become the first ever player to net at four consecutive European Championships.
And Ronaldo has admitted to feeling “sad” about the spot-kick miss – one that now leaves his side with just two points from two games at Euro 2016.
“Obviously it was a goal to be the most capped international player, and also to be the national team’s top scorer,” Ronaldo is quoted by Sky Sports as saying after the match.
“But I’m a bit sad, because this wasn’t the way I wanted to break this record.
“We had a lot of chances and we did well, but we weren’t able to finish. I also missed some chances – a penalty and some other chances. But that’s part of football.”
Ronaldo appeared desperate to be the man to fire Portugal to victory in this match, firing ten shots on goal. But only three of these were on target from the superstar.
A win in their final Group F game, against Hungary, would secure Portugal’s place in the last 16 of the competition.