Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of taking the "worst penalty ever" after Kasper Schmeichel saved his poor spot-kick against Denmark.

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• Portugal trailed Denmark in Nations League
• Ronaldo won his country a penalty
• Forward misses from the spot in quarter-final

• Table of Contents

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Portugal captain won his side an early penalty in the second leg of their Nations League quarter-final against Denmark on Sunday, only for his stuttering effort to be comfortably saved by Celtic stopper Schmeichel. Fans on social media then tore into the 40-year-old for spurning a glorious chance to make the tie 1-1 on aggregate after their 1-0 first leg loss.

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  WHAT THE FANS ARE SAYING

  @Elmi218 tweeted: "That is the worst penalty ever taken."

  @kokkikumar98 wrote on X: "LOL, That's the worst penalty Ronaldo has ever taken. Literally just passed the ball to the keeper."

  @blackyy_gee commented: "😂😂😂😂 can't even score pens now swear this mf was overrated asf."

  @Abinwaz put: "He dived, JUSTICE," and @saint_tropez8 added: "Leave the football before the football leaves u."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Questions will continue to be asked if Ronaldo is the right man to lead Portugal's attack in the big games such as these. The Al-Nassr forward has shown he can score against teams lower down the rankings but some will argue the former Real Madrid man is more of a hindrance than a net positive for Portugal as he continues to edge towards the final stages of his illustrious career. Time will tell on that front.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  It remains to be seen how much longer Ronaldo will remain a fixture in Roberto Martinez's starting XI, but in the build-up to the second leg, Ronaldo insisted he will always put Portugal's collective ambitions ahead of any individual ones. "If I don't score and someone else scores, it's all the same to me," he said. "If Portugal has to win and I don't play, I'll sign my name right now, tell the coach and I won't play. I'll defend these colours until the death."

Tags: Futebol
Category: News