Spain’s reign as European champion is still alive, and Cristiano Ronaldo only sat and watched as Portugal’s tournament run came to an end.
After a scoreless 120 minutes, Spain outlasted Portugal on penalty kicks 4-2 at Donbass Stadium in Donetsk, Ukraine, with Ronaldo never getting the chance to take a penalty for Portugal.
Both goalkeepers — Portugal’s Rui Patricio and Spain’s Iker Casillas — came up with saves on the opening kicks of the shootout, robbing Xabi Alonso and Joao Moutinho, respectively. Andres Iniesta, Pepe, Gerard Pique and Nani traded makes before Sergio Ramos chipped down the center to give Spain a 3-2 edge. With Portugal needing a conversion to tie it up, Bruno Alves stepped forward, with Ronaldo presumably being saved for Portugal’s fifth kick. The centerback promptly blasted his chance off the crossbar, leaving Cesc Fabregas with a chance to win it.
The Barcelona attacker tucked his shot off the left post and in to leave Ronaldo standing helpless at midfield while sending Spain back to the final, where it will defend its title against either Germany or Italy.
The drama of the penalties overshadowed an otherwise evenly played game that lacked quality chances on both ends.
Both sides had threatening spells of possession throughout the first half, but that did not translate into opportunities on goal. Spain’s best opportunity of the opening half came in the ninth minute, when Iniesta squirted free inside the box and tried to cross. Bruno Alves failed to clear and the ball fell to a wide-open Alvaro Arbeloa, but his shot from 18 yards out was over the bar.
Portugal’s pressure disrupted Spain’s normal dominance of possession and reliance on short passing. Their inability to keep possession was almost costly as Moutinho won possession back deep in Spain’s half in the 31st minute. Ronaldo received a pass and sent a low shot skimming just wide of the post.
The second half saw Portugal with more of the chances but never really forced Iker Casillas into much action. Hugo Almeida wasted a 3-on-3 Portugal break by firing a long-distance shot well over the bar. Ronaldo was unable to connect a couple of free kicks before misfiring on Portugal’s best opportunity of the game. As the game approached extra time, Raul Meireles led a counterattack down the center, but his pass to find Ronaldo on his left was a bit behind the Real Madrid star, and his shot from 15 yards out went well over the bar.
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What did you think of the match? Stunned that Ronaldo did not take a penalty for Portugal? Think Spain will repeat, or do you think it’s Germany or Italy’s year?
Share your thoughts below.
Germany still have to get through Italy——not a foregone conclusion!
I like this Euro tournament. The cream of the crop and a few other dark horse teams. The World Cup was once like this.
If the Germans get by Italy, I think they get revenge from 2008 and 2010. 2-0.
Match fixing and play-acting?
Boring game. I hope Spain gets pounded by Italy or Germany.
dude, shut up you sound like a broken record, plenty of players “didnt show up”…have you noticed the stat that said the game ended 0-0 and you kept bringing up Messi, he shows up about as much as Ronaldo when playing for Argentina. not debating who is better, but neither show their best form with the national team
Hahahahajhahahha
Viva todo Castellano! We got this maaaaen!
This Spanish team will go down in history as the greatest team ever. knocking out the Brazil team of the 1970’s. In my families opinion, this Espana team is the greatest ever. I completely agree.
I prefer the Italians over the Germans cause of what the Italians represents as a whole.
Espana 2 Italia 0!
But I still don’t get how Spain not playing up to their standards implies that Portugal should have won. Arguably the closest either came to scoring was Iniesta’s shot in front of the net.
Spain is boring to watch. I hope Germany pounds them.
Not in playoff games.. they keep going until someone scores. And shifts are roughly 45 seconds for forwards.. 4 minutes would be insane!
Just saw the 2nd half. I hope Ronaldo cried after they lost. He’s got to have a lot of tears in him. Well, they can listen to some fado on the way home to choke out some more tears.
Seriously, glad i didnt take time work for this one. Game was exactly what i expected: a lot of good passing, cheap fouls and no goals or even quality shots on goal..
I hope this was a joke. They do not keep playing in the NHL. They go to a shootout as well after the allotted overtime periods are expired with no goals scored. They do, however, have golden goals.
And agree with timmy, line changes make the two sports incomparable when debating stamina or endurance.
Agreed on all points.
Nise!
evenly played i think. portugal played a pressure game i don’t see often against spain. in fact, i’ve never seen it. and it worked. congrats to spain. hats off to portugal.
Portugal created the better scoring opportunities.
The game wasn’t at all one sided as your question seems to imply.
with line changes every four minutes. The two sports are completely incomparable
Gola de Oro!!!
ohh i agree, i just hate seeing it end that way. in this situation the better team won, but that isnt always the case.
After years of underachieving Spain is finally fulfilling their potential. Success doesn’t last forever, but their making the most out of these group of talented players.
The better team won. Why does there have to be a choker. I mean my god can we give the Spanish some credit. They played there style. Which is essentially to dominate their opponents with their ability to possess and pass the ball. The Portuguese did what any team should try to emulate. Hell I think the Germans are the best team to go up against Spain because they can actually finish on the counter. Only Ronaldo and God know why he decided to blast that ball over the net when the Portuguese were on that counter lead by Miereles. But to say that Ronaldo choked is only to diminish the brillance of the Spanish midfield and defense.
but I see no real alternative unless it is some form of a penalty or one vs. one situation. Requiring the players to simply continue playing indefinitely is just not possible
I never like seeing a match decided on PKs, ever.
how insightful. Similar to me saying that Buckingham Palace is an awful place for a state Figurehead to live because Versailles is sssooooooo much more incredible.
Any tournament, WC or Euros, has it’s top teams, its mid teirs (USA maybe?), and it’s bottom feeders (Honduras, New Zealand anyone?)
I didn’t say Portugal was better. I was expecting an unequivocal win from Spain and lots of possession. I saw neither.
They keep playing in ice hockey.
If you’re drunk then why are you correcting other people. Double edged sword my friend.
Cut me sum slack. I mean give me a brake. I stair at numbers from son up to son down.
I am drunk, cut me some slack lol.
“Dude gets held by a team that has let in ONE goal in 5 games+30 minutes, breaking an all time record”
That’s exactly why Cristiano is a choker. Great players are supposed to score against anybody, not just easy teams. Cristiano has proven time and again that he cannot be trusted to come up big in critical times.
Exactly. Would be over fairly quickly. I left out my second part of the proposal where after the two periods of extra time each team would be allowed 1 additional sub.
Are you serious? How many on-field heart attacks do you think there would be? Going 90 is tough——going 120 is a grinding, grueling task. I cannot imagine what would happen if players were required to go on after 120 minute mark…
To be fair you didn’t exactly sound very knowledgeable. The games you picked out were A.Croatia- team that Portugal didn’t even play and B. Denmark-game that Ronaldo had arguably his worst performance. Couple that with the fact that you sounded arrogant when you said “you didnt want to even hear another word about it” and you have a few reason why a person might get agitated with you.
This Euro 2012 has been a wast of time watching. The world cup is better.Argentina,Brazil,Uraguay,Mexico,Japan,USA,Australia,Ivory Coast and Ghana would beat some of these teams I saw in this tournament.
Wait a second… Victor Valdes is playing in Euro 2012?
Yeah, the best player in the entire tournament not getting a single shot on target in 120 minutes despite having a plethora of chances IS choking.
Period.
That goal against Valdes sure was a choke job…Dude gets held by a team that has let in ONE goal in 5 games+30 minutes, breaking an all time record, playing with a team that’s fine but worse, and he’s a ‘choke job’? Troll. Not even a fan of his, but please, try at least acting like you know what you’re talking about.
Clearly you. You responded.
Edit: Netherlands not Denmark. And it wasn’t because of him.
Who cares what you want to hear.
The best team 1 or won??
Ok ok you’re right. He was almost invisible against Croatia.
what are you talking about, eric? it was like he wasn’t on the field against croatia. 🙂
But he played so well in that game against Croatia.
Not only did Ronaldo not take a penalty, he also had ZERO shots on goal for the entire 120 minutes despite taking every free kick within 40 yards of the goal.
This guy is a choke job of epic proportions. He has two good games against Denmark and Croatia and people proclaim he’s answered the critics. And then he goes 120 minutes in Portgual’s biggest match in years without a shot on goal and does not take a penalty in the shootout.
I don’t want to hear another word about this
As a Portugal fan I thought we played Spain as well as any team in the tournament so far. The chances just weren’t there. Now here is my two cents on Penalty Kicks. I think that it isn’t a very good way to decide a game. I think the game should go on a continuous 15 minute periods after the the first two halves of extra time. I think the Spanish would have won either way but I just don’t believe that penalty kicks should be the way we decide games any longer.
In what way in any world was Portugal better than Spain?
I’m not sure the best team one today, but congrats to Spain. Why Ronaldo didn’t take a PK, I don’t understand. Nani calling Bruno off his PK pretty much foreshadowed the loss.
wasted sooooo much time watching this