Diogo Costa, the goalkeeper who saved Cristiano Ronaldo’s three penalties: “It was instinct”

The most astonishing penalty-shootout keeper in Euro history never gave any indication that he could become one. Before he did the unthinkable, before he stopped three shots in a Euro shoot-out like no one had ever done before, and thus wiped away Cristiano Ronaldo’s tears, giving him four more days in the top flight, until Friday’s quarter-final against France; before all that, Diogo Costa had been in a few other penalty shoot-outs, and had left no mark. The last one was just three and a half months ago at the Emirates Stadium.

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Diogo Costa, Ruben Dias, Pepe (Ruben Neves, min. 117), Cancelo (Nelson Semedo, min. 117), Nuno Mendes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Palhinha, Rafael Leao (Francisco Conceicao, min. 76), Vitor Ferreira (Diogo Jota, min. 65), Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano

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Oblak, Jaka Bijol, Vanja Drkusic, Jure Balkovec, Zan Karnicnik, Timi Max Elsnik, Stojanovic (Verbic, min. 86), Jan Mlakar (Gorenc-Stankovic, min. 74), Adam Gnezda Cerin, Benjamin Sesko and Sporar (Zan Celar, min. 74)

Goals

Referee Daniele Orsato

Yellow cards Vanja Drkusic (min. 32), Zan Karnicnik (min. 37), Gorenc-Stankovic (min. 100), Jure Balkovec (min. 107) and Martinez (min. 110)

Red cards Kek (min. 106)

In the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, Arsenal overturned the 1-0 deficit from the first leg in Porto and Diogo Costa saw Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice all pass through the penalty spot. He missed any of his shots, while David Raya saved two and allowed the English team to advance to the quarter-finals. When Costa arrived at the Portugal training camp in Harsewinkel, that shoot-out was still in the air, as his coach, Roberto Martínez, recalled after his amazing night: “We talked about that, about the experience against Arsenal. His experiences and his level of maturity have helped him to help us,” he explained. “Diogo used his heart, his feeling, and he grew a lot. He is a great goalkeeper, the great secret of Portuguese football, who appeared today.”

To console Cristiano. And after doing so, Costa, who was born 24 years ago in the Swiss town of Rothrist, where his Portuguese parents had emigrated, also cried in the first round of television interviews. Although his was one of joy and relief. He had had at least one other round with Portugal, eight years earlier, in the final of the European Under-17 Championship against Spain. Then he also failed to save a penalty, although his team lifted the title after Manu Morlanes sent his off the post. The feat in Frankfurt did not seem to have a very rational interpretation for him either: “We always study, but I didn’t pay much attention to the analysis. It was instinct. I can’t explain it, goalkeepers have to have that, and thank God it worked,” said the goalkeeper who came through the Porto youth academy from the age of 11.

After his first TV appearances on the pitch, Costa appeared in the Frankfurt Arena press room with the trophy for best player of the match. He placed it on the table to his right and looked at the crowd with a smile. It was a placid smile, like someone resting contentedly after having completed the work of a lifetime. As if he didn’t have to go anywhere. There he spoke not only about the three penalties he saved in the shootout, but also about the moment that allowed Portugal to reach the tie-break. In the second half of extra time, Sesko escaped Pepe and flew towards him: “These are more difficult games, because we spend a lot of time without touching the ball, so I concentrated on taking advantage of any opportunity that arose. I put all my energy into that. I thought: ‘I have to stop it.’ I did what I could… I tried to read his body to see where he was going to shoot, and thank God I was able to stop it.” He extended his left foot, like Dibu Martínez when Kolo Muani faced him in the World Cup final in Qatar, and like then, he sent the result to the eleven-meter spot. “Maybe it’s the game of my life, the one in which I’ve been able to help the team the most.”

But even then, sitting down, he could not offer any further explanation of how he had done what no one else had done before: “I concentrated as much as I could, took a breath and followed my instinct,” he said. “But the most important thing is the work. I work hard and I trust myself a lot.”

He was also pleased to have relieved Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed a penalty in the first half of extra time that could have decided the tie: “We had to keep believing. Everyone, Cris, me, everyone makes mistakes, but the important thing is what we do afterwards. You have to believe, and that’s what we did,” he said. “I understand his frustration, because he spends a lot of time preparing. It’s a pleasure to play with him.”

And he stood up, still with the little smile on his face after a burst of full pleasure. “The trophy!” they warned him when he had almost reached the exit door. He went back to get the MVP award that he had forgotten on the table, as unexpected as his three stops, and disappeared, still floating.

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