Cape Town – Cristiano Ronaldo showed an amazing ability to handle the biggest of occasions when he stepped up to coolly score a stoppage-time penalty for Real Madrid against Juventus.
English referee Michael Oliver awarded a controversial penalty in the 92nd minute and sent off goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon for dissent.
At the end of the game Ronaldo said: "We had to suffer, to learn, it serves as a lesson that in football certain things can never be ruled out. You have to fight until the last and tonight Real Madrid should have scored more but Buffon was brilliant, Juve were good, but we deserved it. We created chances and in terms of the penalty I don't know why they are arguing, because Benatia was behind Lucas. That's football.
"Football is a game and anything can happen. We were not good, and we have to admit that. We can learn from that for the future. Step-by-step, we are going to the semi-finals."
For the decisive moment in the game Ronaldo described his emotions when stepping up to convert an unstoppable penalty past substitute goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
"For the penalty, my heart was beating hard, but I tried to stay calm. I knew it would be a decisive penalty, thank God I scored and we went through."
Defender Dani Carvajal agreed that the referee gave the correct decision for the foul on Lucas Vasquez.
"When I saw it live I thought that he made clear contact. Lucas is right in front of the goal and if Benatia doesn't bring him down, he scores. Cristiano puts his penalties away most of the time. He's getting the goals for the team, which is the important thing."
Ronaldo: My heart was beating hard, but I tried to stay calm…I knew it would be decisive penalty#RealMadrid#Ronaldo#RMAJUV
With an amazing amount of pressure on him…what do you think of Ronaldo's unstoppable penalty?
https://t.co/VaPJtBhFVdpic.twitter.com/Kagprv4Qqd
— Sport24News (@Sport24news) April 12, 2018
