Revealed: Cristiano Ronaldo’s heart rate was at its lowest right before taking Portugal’s first penalty in shootout against Slovenia
- Ronaldo’s heart rate was lowest when he took a penalty in the penalty shootout
- The 39-year-old was stopped earlier by Jan Oblak, but still scored
- Listen to It’s all about to begin! EUROS DAILY: Do you love or hate the narcissistic protagonist Cristiano Ronaldo?
New data shows Cristiano Ronaldo’s heart rate during the 2024 Euro last 16 match between Portugal and Slovenia was at its lowest before he took the first penalty in the shoot-out.
Portugal secured a place in the quarter-finals after winning on penalties thanks to a heroic effort from goalkeeper Diogo Costa.
However, Roberto Martinez’s men had the chance to take the lead in extra time when they were awarded a penalty after Diogo Jota was brought down in the penalty area.
Ronaldo took the penalty to score his first goal of this year’s tournament after a frustrating night, but his effort was blocked by Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
The 39-year-old had the chance to get revenge when he converted the first Portuguese penalty in the shootout.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s heart rate was at its lowest before taking Portugal’s first penalty
The 39-year-old beat Jan Oblak after being stopped earlier by the Slovenian keeper
However, he was not fazed by the pressure, as his heart rate was around 100 beats per minute, his lowest heart rate during the night, according to data from HOOP.
The Al-Nassr forward scored this time, finding the ball in the bottom left corner despite a good dive from Oblak.
Bruno Fernandes then took the second penalty and also scored, causing Ronaldo’s heart rate to drop to around 125 beats per minute.
Costa saved his third penalty of the night and Ronaldo was understandably more confident that Portugal would win.
His heart rate suddenly shot up to over 170 beats per minute as Bernardo Silva was about to take the penalty that ultimately secured victory for Martinez’s team.
Ronaldo, as he usually does during matches, wore the WHOOP 4.0 band under a wristband.
“Sometimes it’s difficult and tricky to score penalties,” Ronaldo told Portuguese broadcaster RTP after the match, becoming emotional again. “I’ve scored more than 200 penalties in my career. Sometimes it’s a mess.”
He added: “We showed the enthusiasm that we still have, we had fun and we made the fans happy. That’s it, this is our life,” he said afterwards, just before midnight in Frankfurt.
Virgil van Dijk slept seven hours and 46 minutes the night before the match between the Netherlands and Romania
Meanwhile, Virgil van Dijk’s details have also been released ahead of the Netherlands’ 3-0 victory over Romania.
The Liverpool defender slept for seven hours and 46 minutes the night before and took a nap of over 90 minutes in the late morning to recover further for the match.
Van Dijk then recorded a stretch score of 20.1, a way to quantify the amount of physical and mental stress you put on your body during the 90 minutes.