Unlikely hero Diogo Costa saves the day for Portugal

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

The Portuguese national team had none other than FC Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa to thank for their progression to the next stage of Euro 2024.

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Portugal secured a tie against Slovenia in the first knockout round. A Slovenia side that made this round on the back of 3 successive draws continued the run with yet another against the Euro 2016 winners.

Roberto Martinez made 7 changes to his side with Joao Palhinha, Cristiano Ronaldo and eventual game winner Diogo Costa retaining their spots.

The game started off on the front foot with Portugal taking the initiative and dominating play.

Slovenia looked more than comfortable sitting back and absorb the pressure as they looked to hurt their Portuguese counterparts on the break.

Jan Oblak enjoyed a skipper-worthy performance doing everything to keep his side in the game, including a penalty save deep into the game from the veteran Cristiano Ronaldo.

Portugal almost gave it all away as Pepe failed to sort out his feet and gave the ball away at the death.

Benjamin Sesko pounced and raced through on goal but his low curled effort was kept out by Diogo Costa’s foot.

Heading into the shootouts on an already seemingly bad day for Portugal, Costa saved Josip Ilicic’s opening kick and the successive attempts from Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s second chance from the spot was buried deep down into the bottom left corner. Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva also converted consequently to earn Portugal a 3-0 victory in the shootouts.

In so doing, Portugal’s Diogo Costa became the first goalkeeper to save three penalties in a UEFA European Championship penalty shootout round.

Portugal will take on France — opponents in the 2016 Euros final in the next round as they look to go all the way for glory.

This appearance will make it a record breaking seventh showing in the quarter-final rounds of the European Championships.

Tags: Cristiano Ronaldo, #Euro2024, Benjamin Sesko, Diogo Costa, #Portugal, #Euros, Pepe, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Jan Oblak