Euro 2016: Portugal 0-0 Austria - 5 talking points
With Hungary having picked up a point in the earlier game, the onus was on the bigger teams in Group F to get the three points and ensure they do not have a nervy time on the last match day. Portugal and Austria were both looking to move one step closer to the knockout stage.
While Cristiano Ronaldo had to deal with a lot of questions regarding the rather poor performance of his Portuguese side against Iceland which ended in a draw, Austria were humbled by Hungary in their first game.
The game was dominated by Portugal but Fernando Santos’ team just could not get the breakthrough. Even when they were given the chance to score the first goal of the game via a penalty, the ever reliable Cristiano Ronaldo missed.
Portugal huffed and puffed but could not blow the resolute Austrian defence down. Although the result was far from what both teams would have wanted, they still keep their hopes of making it into the knockout stages alive.
We look back at another interesting game and list out the five talking points from the clash.
1) It just was not Cristiano Ronaldo’s night
It was a historic night for Ronaldo as he broke Luis Figo’s record of the most number of caps for Portugal in international football but things were to go horribly awry for him.
The Real Madrid star might be one of the greatest players in the world but he was far from his best in this crucial tie against Austria. Already under tremendous pressure for his statements on Iceland in their earlier game, the best way to get people off his back was if he had scored for Portugal.
Sadly, the former Manchester United star could not get the better of Austrian goalkeeper Robert Almer. While most of his shots in the first half were saved, Ronaldo was given the opportunity to give Portugal the lead via a penalty, which he won in the second half, but the attacker hit the post.
Cue a few minutes later and it seemed that Ronaldo had finally broken the deadlock but his header was ruled out, correctly so, for offside. Portugal now have to win in their last game against Hungary and without Ronaldo firing on all cylinders, it might be tough for the side to get the desired result.