Cristiano Ronaldo gave the ball a kiss and placed it on the penalty spot. How many times must he have been through this routine over the course of the previous 20 years?
Beating the goalkeeper from 12 yards has been integral to his brilliance, integral to his claim to be the greatest of all.
If he could do it again, beat Jan Oblak and finally break the Slovenian resistance in the first half of extra time then surely Portugal would be into a quarter-final against France in Hamburg on Friday.
Ronaldo struck it cleanly and firmly towards the corner but Oblak went the right way, stretched and found the ball with a hand, pushed it against a post and wide.
It was an exceptional save, more of a save than a miss, and indicative of Slovenia’s refusal to yield to the expectation.
Perhaps they will say there was justice at play, too, because they did not think it was a foul on Diogo Jota as he jinked into the box.
Ronaldo was left distraught by the miss, sobbing as the teams huddled for the interval in extra-time, his team-mates offering support and fans singing his name.
It was one of those nights when the ball did not want to go in.
Mostly because Slovenia defended heroically, but Benjamin Sesko also missed a glorious chance to clinch a place for Slovenia in the last eight, after Ronaldo’s penalty miss and before the shoot out.
Sesko pounced on a rare mistake by Pepe and sped clear with only goalkeeper Diogo Costa to beat.
Costa spread his frame and made the block. It was Portugal’s goalkeeper who would rise up and be the hero of the night, saving three penalties in the shootout. ‘The game of my life,’ said the Porto keeper.
His first save in the shootout foiled Josip Ilicic and brought Ronaldo back to the same end of the stadium, facing Oblak again.
