Euro 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo down in the dumps after blowing chance to become Portugal’s top tournament goalscorer
Real Madrid star missed a penalty and had a goal ruled out for offside as his team laboured to goalless draw against Austria
CRISTIANO RONALDO admits he is gutted about his poor form.
The Portugal superstar missed a penalty plus a hatful of chances in Saturday’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Austria.
He has now failed to score from any of his 36 free-kicks in major tournaments, while Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale has struck twice for Wales from just three free-kicks in France.
Ronaldo broke Luis Figo’s Portugal appearance record when he won his 128th cap in the Group F clash at the Parc de Princes.
But the ex-Manchester United star has only nine goals in SEVEN major tournaments and is still one goal away from becoming his nation’s top tournament scorer.
And as he tried to hide from his latest embarrassment in training yesterday, Ronaldo confessed: “I’m a bit sad. This wasn’t the way I wanted to break Figo’s record.
“I wanted to be the most capped international player AND be the national team’s top scorer.
“The most beautiful way would have been to have scored and won the game. I missed some chances and a penalty but that’s part of football.
“It wasn’t something we wanted. We had a lot of chances and we did well but we weren’t able to finish.
“But the bad won’t last forever, so we need to believe things will go better.”
Anything less than a victory against Hungary on Wednesday is likely to see Portugal eliminated.
But team-mate Ricardo Carvalho is refusing to blame Ron for Portugal’s Euro 2016 woes.
He revealed: “Cristiano is down at the moment but there is no blame.
“He has scored so many important goals and won games for Portugal and we don’t forget that in these moments. Anyone can miss a penalty — even the best player in the world.”
Southampton ace Cedric Soares added: “Missing the penalty, it happens. I am sure the next game he will be better.”
