Cristiano Ronaldo missed a late penalty as Portugal were held to a scoreless draw in their Euro 2016 clash against Austria on Saturday night, leaving their chances of winning Group F in serious doubt.
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Cristiano Ronaldo failed to convert from the penalty spot with 11 minutes remaining on his record-breaking 128th cap for Portugal, while Nani struck the upright in the first half.
Portugal’s final good look at goal came in the 85th, when Ronaldo actually found the net after getting his head onto a free kick.
After sneaking past the Parc des Princes security to get on the pitch, Ronaldo waited whilst the lucky spectator juggled with his phone to take the snap as security guards stood and watched.
Hungary tops the table with three points as they won their first game, Ronaldo and Iceland are second in the group as they drew their game by 1-1 and Austria are last on the table with 0 points.
Tournament dark horses Austria arrive in Paris under heavy pressure after a shock 2-0 defeat to Hungary in their first match left them in danger of an early exit. A steward intervened, but Ronaldo allowed the fan to pose for a selfie.
Perhaps the counterattack will provide clear chances to attack the Portugal defense, which was not tested much in their first match. Firstly, Nani broke into the box but saw his low curling effort saved by the legs of Almer, before Vieirinha then hit a shot from outside the area that the Austrian stopper diverted past the post for a corner. The anguish was etched on his face and was there again 10 minutes later.
Portugal: Rui Patricio; Vieirinha, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Raphael Guerreiro; Ricardoto Quaresma (Joao Mário, 71), Joao Moutinho, William Carvalho, André Gomes (Eder, 83); Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Nani (Rafa Silva, 89).
The penalty was awarded after defender Martin Hinteregger wrestled Ronaldo to the ground to stop him from reaching a cross.
He will be hoping the cameras capture him scoring in Portugal’s final group game against leaders Hungary on Wednesday when qualification for the last 16 is on the line.
Hungary had every right to go into the break feeling sorry for themselves but returned with the bit between their teeth after the interval.
Referee Sergey Karasev pointed to the spot and Gylfi Sigurdsson stepped up and sent Kiraly the wrong way to put Iceland in front.
But Saeversson was helpless with just two minutes to play, turning into his own net after substitute Nikolic had burst to the byline and cut the ball back for Adam Szalai, waiting to pounce if Iceland’s right-back had not intervened.
Santos and Ronaldo, meanwhile, are under huge pressure to ensure things improve in the showdown with current Group F leaders Hungary, with a slim chance of topping the pool still theirs.
Another flare was lit after the final whistle when Hungarian players ran to celebrate with supporters.
Belgium needs just one point in the final match against Sweden to advance to the knockout round.
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Despite dominating the opening half, it still took until the opening minutes of the second period for Belgium to take the lead when Lukaku finished a counter-attack by rifling a shot into the far corner.
