UFC superstar Conor McGregor shares inspirational 27-word message to Cristiano Ronaldo after penalty miss vs Slovenia

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) superstar Conor McGregor has lauded Cristiano Ronaldo after the latter missed a penalty in Portugal's UEFA Euro 2024 last-16 win over Slovenia.

Earlier on Monday (July 1), Portugal advanced to the Euro 2024 quarter-final stage after beating Slovenia in a penalty shootout. However, they struggled to break the deadlock in 120 minutes of regulation time.

Before A Selecao's 3-0 win in the shootout due to Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa's heroics, Ronaldo missed a vital penalty in the first half of extra-time. The 39-year-old Al-Nassr attacker burst into tears after his miss as a number of his teammates rushed to console him.

After the end of Portugal's Euro 2024 last-16 encounter, McGregor decided to hail the five-time Ballon d'Or award winner. He captioned one of his Instagram stories:

"True passion for country! @cristiano you are the greatest football player to grace this Earth. God bless you brother! The past is glory! The present is history!"

Ronaldo, who is yet to score in four outings at the Euro 2024, will next be in action for Portugal on Friday (July 5). Roberto Martinez's side will take on France in their Euro 2024 quarter-final tie in Hamburg.

Dietmar Hamann claims Cristiano Ronaldo only thinks about himself after Portugal win

Speaking on Irish television channel RTE, ex-Germany and Liverpool star Dietmar Hamann offered his thoughts on Cristiano Ronaldo's latest emotional outburst. He said (h/t Daily Mail):

"Thirty-nine-year-old plays 120 minutes, misses a penalty and I've got to say, I bought into all that, 'Ronaldo has turned into a team player because he needs the team more than he used to'. I bought into that nonsense as well, but I think he showed his true colors again tonight. Missing the penalty, he starts crying on the pitch at half-time in extra-time. And I'm thinking, 'It's all about you'."

Sharing more thoughts on Ronaldo crying on Monday, Hamann added:

"There's a squad of 26 players, there's 20 staff, there's 30,000 or 40,000 fans in there, it's not about you. You try to be mutual, but I was cheering Slovenia on because I thought the reaction was embarrassing, I thought it was out of order. I've never seen anything like it, because once you get emotional, it's the end of it."

Claiming that the star is quite self-serving, the former midfielder said:

"So that was the point where the manager had to say, "You've got to come off because you're not in the right frame of mind'. Credit to him he took the first penalty and he took it well, it was a very good penalty, but as I said I bought into all that 'He's turned into a team player', it's absolute nonsense. All he thinks about is himself."

The ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid icon has failed to score a goal in his past eight matches at a major tournament for Portugal.

However, the Portugal captain relished a stellar season at Al-Nassr in the 2023-24 term. He scored 44 goals in 45 total outings for his club.