John Terry brands BBC ‘disgrace’ after poking fun at Cristiano Ronaldo’s tears

Cristiano Ronaldo was left in floods of tears after missing a penalty in Portugal’s European Championship round of 16 win over Slovenia in Frankfurt on Monday night.

The BBC poked fun at Ronaldo’s expense, first calling him “Misstiano Penaldo” in their highlights reel of his penalty miss and then later Gary Lineker posted a doctored image of Ronaldo crying with the former England striker looking on in the background. The picture, in which Ronaldo replaces a tearful Paul Gascoigne from Italia ‘90, was viewed over 350,000 times on X.

Former Chelsea captain John Terry, who missed a crucial penalty in the shootout of the 2008 Champions League final, was critical of the BBC’s stance and posted on Instagram: “BBC this is a disgrace!”

Portugal coach Roberto Martinez praised Ronaldo after a rollercoaster night and said: “He (Ronaldo) doesn’t need to care that much and that’s why I thank him for being the way he is, for caring for the group ... I was certain he had to be the first penalty taker and show us the way to the victory,” Martinez told reporters.

“I think we all felt very proud of our captain. The dressing room was delighted with what he’s doing. I think he gave us all a lesson, that you need to live every day as if it’s the last one.

“You need to have real high standards and never give up - life and football gives you difficult moments, and the way he reacted is a real example that we are very proud of in Portuguese football.”

Telegraph Sport outlines how Ronaldo’s evening went from one of frustration to despair before finally ending in sheer relief.

9 minutes

A cocky Ronaldo taunts Slovenia with a bit of showboating by playing keepy-uppy, which does not endear him to a Petar Stojanovic, who brings him down.

14 minutes

A sign of things to come as the forward cries out and throws his arms up in frustration after a cross from Bernardo Silva goes just over his head. Not long after, he goes down too easily looking for a penalty.

35 minutes

He may have only scored one free-kick in major tournaments but no-one is taking the first dead-ball sighter of the game off Ronaldo, who sends it inches over the crossbar.

39 minutes

Ronaldo manages to laugh off referee Daniel Orsato moving a second free-kick from wide on the left even further out before blasting it miles wide.

56 minutes

He finally gets a free-kick on target but his howitzer is all power and no precision, flying straight at Jan Oblak.

72 minutes

Ronaldo’s head drops as he sends yet another free-kick over the crossbar from even further out after the longest of run-ups.

89 minutes

This is the moment. Diogo Jota’s reverse pass finds Ronaldo, who has just Oblak to beat, but his tame shot is saved.

90+1 minutes

Ronaldo tries to whip up the Portugal fans to make more noise after winning a stoppage-time corner.

103 minutes

Jota wins a soft penalty for Portugal and Ronaldo looks destined to be the match-winner.

105 minutes

But, after a long delay, Oblak pulls off a jaw-dropping save onto the post. The half-time whistle is blown and Ronaldo dissolves into floods of tears. His team-mates try in vain to console him and Portugal’s fans struggle to rally him before he finally composes himself.

120 minutes

After a stuttering run-up, Ronaldo narrowly beats Oblak from the spot with Portugal’s first penalty of the shoot-out. He apologises to the fans for his earlier miss, his relief later palpable after a 3-0 win on spot-kicks.