The 39-year-old striker at first just put his head in his hands and carried on.

But when the first period of the additional half-hour ended a few seconds later, his emotions erupted.

Team-mates tried to console Ron as tears streamed out, seemingly uncontrollably.

The Al-Nassr star’s Euro 2016-winning team-mater Jose Fonte told the BBC: “He’s an emotional guy – he wants to score more than anything else. That will hurt him.”

Meanwhile, when cameras panned to the stands, his mum also looked tearful.

Ronaldo let his emotions out in a tense clash

Team-mates were quick to rally round

Ronaldo had entered the game on a career-worst run of seven games in international tournaments without a goal.

And as Portugal struggled against outstanding defending from Slovenia, Ron had just a couple of chances in normal time to break that duck.

Then came his extra-time woe from the spot.

But Ronaldo showed his mental strength when the clash went to penalties.

He missed with his spot-kick, smashing it into the opposite corner.

And rather than celebrating, he made an apology gesture to his country’s supporters inside the Frankfurt Arena by bringing his hands together.

Portugal easily prevailed in the shootout after Slovenia collapsed from the spot.

But more of the drama in the match before that had come from the emotions of a legendary figure than from the actions of his inferior team.