The 39-year-old Portugal player Cristiano Ronaldo explains the hidden reason behind his crying against Slovenia at UEFA Euro 2024

In an interview with Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo explained why he was so upset when he missed a penalty against Slovenia at the UEFA Euro 2024.

The UEFA Euro 2024 was a big event for many reasons, including the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo might have played his last game for Portugal there. Though, seeing Ronaldo cry after Slovenia’s Jan Oblak saved his penalty in extra time in the Round of 16 was the hardest thing to see at the event.

That the Portuguese celebrity was so emotional was the subject of a lot of talk, but Ronaldo put an end to it all in an honest YouTube video with Rio Ferdinand.

“I cried the day I missed the spot… But it wasn’t because I thought Portugal would lose or that everything would fall apart if I didn’t score. Ronaldo said, “It wasn’t about that.”

“No one knows me.” Imagine that you’ve been successful on your last 27 penalties, but then you miss one. You feel bad about yourself, your kids, your mom, your girlfriend, the fans who came to the game, and everyone else. “That’s why I felt sad,” he said.

“So you feel that when things go wrong.” But I like the stress; I know how to handle it. In that moment, I felt bad only for myself, the fans, and my family—not for anything else. You need to say what you want. Ronaldo said, “If you hide this stuff, I think you’re not being true to yourself.”

How many penalties has CR7 missed over the course of his career?
Even though Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals than anyone else in sports history, he has missed a few penalties. Ronaldo has missed a total of 30 penalties in his official career.

Twenty-two of these were missed while he was playing for different teams. He missed the most games with Real Madrid (13), then with Juventus (5), and finally with Manchester United (4). It’s worth mentioning that he hasn’t missed any penalties for his present team, Al-Nassr.

When it comes to Portugal, the leader has missed eight penalties. Five of these were in friendly games, two were in European World Cup qualifying, two were in the UEFA Euro (in 2016 and 2024), and one was in the 2018 World Cup, when Portugal beat Iran 1-0 in the group stage.