Cristiano Ronaldo being consoled after missing the penalty against Slovenia during their round-of-16 tie.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Cristiano Ronaldo's missed penalty in the Euro 2024 round-of-16 tie against Slovenia became a rage on the internet with even a celebrated media house like BBC going over-the-board, though the backlash was severe.
With both the teams failing to break the deadlock within 90 minutes at Frankfurt Arena in Germany, the match went into the extra time.
With just four minutes to go for the final whistle, the Portuguese talisman got a golden chance to take his team forward when the team was awarded a penalty.
But much to his chagrin and to the dismay of his millions of fans world over, Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved the spot kick brilliantly to leave the Portuguese captain in tears.
Though the 39-year-old made amends by scoring in the shoot out where his team won 3-0 to book a blockbuster clash with France in the quarterfinal, his earlier miss led to a war of wards on internet.
It all started with BBC giving a caption, accompanied by video replays for Ronaldo's penalty as “Misstiano Penaldo” during its post-match analysis of the knockout game.
What does Penaldo mean?
For the layman's knowledge, it is a term coined by Ronaldo's bitter critics -- mostly by the Barcelona fans -- when the Portuguese talisman was plying his trade with their La Liga rivals Real Madrid. The primary reason why Ronaldo was called Penaldo was because a large chunk of his goals came from penalties.
During his La Liga stint at Santiago Bernabeu, his famed rivalry with Lionel Messi, who was at Nou camp is a part of the football folklore. Ronaldo had scored many goals during the El Clasico titles, with many of them being converted from the spot.
Angry reaction
But BBC's pun on Ronaldo penalty really invited the wrath of not only CR7 fans, but also some of the celebrated stars who have graced the beautiful game.
Former Chelsea captain John Terry, who himself has went through a similar phase -- having missed out a penalty in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United in Moscow -- slammed BBC for poking fun at Ronaldo.
"BBC this is a disgrace!” Terry wrote on Instagram.
John Terry's Instagram story.
Credit: Instagram/@johnterry.26
The keyboard warriors too went berserk against BBC for the Misstiano Penaldo missive.
“Misstiano Penaldo is sensational hating from BBC", wrote one X user while “someone at the BBC needs a raise, posted another.
CR7 and his countrymen face a tough test in the quarterfinals against the finalists of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, France led by their own super star, Kylian Mbappe.