The Costa doing business

Portugal keeper thwarts three straight to beat Slovenia on penalties

- GRAHAM DUNBAR

A game of epic personal drama and tears for Cristiano Ronaldo ended with his Portugal making the European Championship quarterfinals by beating Slovenia in a penalty shootout Monday.

The round-of-16 game went the distance, because Ronaldo’s extratime spot kick in the 114th minute was saved by Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak, leaving the Portuguese star in tears and consoled by every teammate before restarting play. Regulation and extra time finished 0-0.

When they went to penalties, Ronaldo scored the first goal and teammate Diogo Costa saved all three of Slovenia's kicks from Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic. Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva also scored for Portugal to seal the shootout 3-0 with two kicks to spare.

"I was sad and now I'm overjoyed.

This is what football gives you," Ronaldo said in translated comments in a post-game interview.