Cristiano Ronaldo will be having flashbacks of Euro 2024 as he skied a penalty that could have saved Al Nassr from a King Cup of Champions exit.
Al Nassr trailed Al Taawoun 1-0 thanks to Waleed Al-Ahmed’s 71st-minute strike but were handed a lifeline in stoppage-time.
Ronaldo could not inspire Al-Nassr to victory over Al-Taawoun in the King CupGetty
Ronaldo had a golden chance to take their contest to extra time when Al-Nassr received a penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage-time, however, the Portuguese great fluffed his lines as he sent his penalty flying over the bar.
Al Taawoun goalkeeper Mailson even guessed the right way but did not need to be called into action.
Ronaldo immediately buried his head in his hands after the penalty mishap as Al Taawoun held on to win and progress to the quarter finals of the King Cup.
An hour after the game, Ronaldo posted on X: “Every challenge is an opportunity to grow.”
It’s not the first time this year Ronaldo has had a high-profile miss from the spot.
In Portugal’s last 16 clash against Slovenia at Euro 2024, Ronaldo had the opportunity to break the deadlock when his side were awarded a spot kick in the first half of extra time.
But Ronaldo had his effort turned past the right post with a superb stop by Slovenia and Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
The miss prompted a highly emotional reaction from Ronaldo during the interval in extra time as he burst into tears and had to be consoled by his Portugal teammates.
Luckily for Ronaldo, he would have a chance to atone for his error as the fixture went to a penalty shootout.
Ronaldo showed nerves of steel as he stepped up to take Portugal’s first penalty and made no mistake as he fired his effort into the bottom left corner.
Ronaldo was in tears when he missed a penaltyGetty
The 39-year-old immediately hoisted his hands in the air to apologise to Portuguese fans situated behind the goal.
Prior to his first effort against Slovenia, Ronaldo had not missed a penalty since February 2022 when Middlesbrough goalkeeper Joe Lumley kept out his strike in an FA Cup tie.
Over the course of Ronaldo’s career, he has scored a whopping 167 and missed 31 times.
With the King Cup now off the table in terms of available silverware, Ronaldo turns his attention to Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League campaign.
The Riyadh-based outfit are unbeaten and sit third on the table with 18 points, three behind second-placed Al Ittihad and six behind league leaders Al Hilal.
However, that six-point gap could be shortened to just three as Al Nassr takes on Al Hilal on Friday.