Diogo Costa became the first goalkeeper in European Championship history to save three penalties in the same match.
Portugal’s 24-year-old goalkeeper Diogo Costa was the biggest cornerstone of his team when the country defeated Slovenia in the quarter-final match of the European Football Championship.
The actual playing time was goalless. In the last minutes of extra time, Slovenia had a great opportunity to score, but Costa handled it without a gesture.
The match went all the way to penalty kicks. In that, Costa was once again unbeatable. Costa, who represents FC Porto in the club team, blocked all three Slovenian attempts. No goalkeeper has been able to do that in the 64-year history of the European Championships.
If Portugal had lost to the clear underdog Slovenia, there would have been talk of a disaster in the country’s football circles.
Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez even managed to praise Costa after the quarter-final win.
– I think Portugal’s secret is Diogo Costa. Costa is the best kept secret in European football and today he stepped out.
– He reached a completely new level today. A single game situation was already incredible. Then three more consecutive saves with penalty kicks. We must be very proud of him, Martínez continued.
“Probably the best game of my life”
Costa has saved Portugal’s goal with his mouth in all four of the team’s EC matches. There were victories against the Czech Republic, Turkey and now Slovenia. However, Georgia was stronger than Portugal in the final game of the first group.
In his own words, Costa considers the quarterfinal match to be probably the best match of his life.
– I focused on what I had to do. Of course, we had analyzed penalty kickers beforehand, but players change the way they shoot. I am very happy and excited to help the team, Costa said after the match.
In the quarter-finals, Portugal will face France, who beat Belgium 1-0 in the quarter-finals on Monday.
– We don’t want days off, we want to be here. Now we focus and direct our eyes only to the France game, head coach Martínez said about the future.