BBC pundits have hailed Cristiano Ronaldo for his response to missing a penalty during Portugal’s last-16 victory over Slovenia.
The 39-year-old struggled to hit the back of the net, and was left in tears after his spot-kick was saved by Jan Oblak during extra-time.
He had to be consoled by his team-mates and manager Roberto Martinez as the game continued, with neither side able to score in regular or extra-time.
Ronaldo made amends for his miss though as he scored Portugal’s first penalty during their shootout win.
Speaking during BBC’s coverage of the last-16 clash between Romania and the Netherlands, Shearer said that Ronaldo ‘deserved great credit’.
BBC pundits have praised Cristiano Ronaldo for putting away his penalty during Portugal’s penalty shootout victory – after failing to score with his spot-kick during extra-time
Ronaldo saw his penalty saved by Jan Oblak during the first-half of extra time on Monday night
He stepped up first for Portugal during the penalty shootout and this time made no mistake
Alan Shearer has insisted that Ronaldo deserved ‘great credit’ for stepping up again
The former England striker said: ‘He’s 39 years of age and he can’t be as good as he was 10 years ago but his aura and his belief that he has, has never changed and all of that last night was a classic example of that.
‘It has to be about him, he’s certainly not as quick as he was. But his movement inside the box is brilliant.
‘But I’ll tell you what, for him to step up first, after he’d missed one, the pressure that he was under and then to put it in the side netting from the penalty, that takes some doing and he deserves great credit for that.’
Former Lionesses star Alex Scott said: ‘I think that was the strange thing to see him so emotional and in tears knowing that you’ve still got so far to go and that its not over. But then like you said, for him to step up in that moment and say ‘Actually I’m going to take this penalty.”
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker said that he experienced something slightly similar with Paul Gascoigne at Italia ’90.
On that occasion Gascoigne was left in floods of tears mid-game after picking up a yellow card which ruled him out of the World Cup final if England had gone on to reach it.
Ronaldo was also praised by Shearer’s co-pundits Alex Scott and Ashley Williams
Lineker then added that Ronaldo’s tears was ‘remarkable and emotional’.
Scott agreed with Lineker saying that Ronaldo ‘wears his heart on his sleeve,’ before the presenter said that he was driven.
Former Welsh international Ashley Williams, who is also on punditry duty, said: ‘Maybe it just got the better of him, but to step up and put your hand up first – we know he likes that, but to put it away – fair play.’