Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo’s blushes were spared on Monday night by Diogo Costa who made three saves to see Portugal progress.
Roberto Martinez watched his usually unstoppable Portugal side put in a lacklustre and unimpressive display during their Euro 2024 Last 16 tie against Slovenia.
Portugal failed to score in over 120 minutes of action, with Jan Oblak denying Cristiano Ronaldo from the spot in extra time.
After extra time, the game went to penalties where Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva all stepped up to score, while Bruno made it look straightforward as he often does for Manchester United.
However, the performance left much to be desired for those hoping the 2016 champions go all the way, and now Bruno has shared his reaction to the result.
Bruno Fernandes reacts to Portugal’s penalty shootout win
After the penalty shootout, United captain Bruno was speaking with the media and in doing so reacted to the less-than-impressive Portuguese performance, as quoted by A Bola.
“Slovenia allowed spaces in what we worked on, trying to sink through the line, going back and trying first-class crossings. In the first part, we created some danger in these bids, but we didn’t score.
“It was always a little missing, a little long pass, Slovenia defended well, they are the team with the most relief. We were always on top, we gave some opportunities in counterattack, but the most important thing was to move [to the quarterfinals].
“Obviously we want to improve, score more goals, create more opportunities and I believe we will be able to do that in the next game.”
A quarter-final against France would be the perfect place for Portugal to kick things up a notch. Although France will be hoping the exact same thing having not scored from open play all tournament through four games, with two own goals and a penalty strike.
For many this next game will be the one which ends up deciding who the favourite to go on and triumph will be. Although with nearly all the favourites struggling to impress, it could be that a previously thought outsider can snatch the trophy.
How did Bruno Fernandes play for Portugal v Slovenia
On a night when he was far from his best, Bruno still had a decisive involvement, making Oblak look amateur with his penalty.
He played the entirety of the 120+ minute game and in that time created a whopping four chances while accumulating 0.44 expected assists.
Bruno had 120 touches on the ball and completed 65 passes of which 23 were into the final third which demonstrates how dangerous he is even on an off day.
Off the ball, Bruno was also active winning two tackles and making seven defensive actions along with seven recoveries.
It was a dogged and frustrating night for Bruno, one which Manchester United fans will know very well, but we’ll now be rooting for him once again in the quarter-finals this weekend.