Gary Lineker has brutally told Joao Felix that he'll have to live with his penalty miss 'forever' after it led to Portugal crashing out of Euro 2024.
Atletico Madrid forward Felix hit the post with his right-footed spot kick and handed France the advantage in their quarter-final shootout. The French clinically punished Felix's miss by winning 5-3 on penalties, booking a tasty semi-final clash with Spain on Tuesday.
Felix, 24, was the only player to miss in the shootout and became visibly emotional after the defeat which left the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe without the fairytale ending to their prestigious international careers. Looking back at Felix's misfired effort on the BBC, Lineker made it clear just how tough Felix will find moving on.
"Let's have a look at the Joao Felix miss," the ex-England striker began. "It's happened to lots of players obviously in history but when it's just one person obviously it's worse. He'll live with that forever."
France captain Kylian Mbappe put Felix's miss down to the presence of French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, saying of his team-mate: "He's scary. I don't have the exact explanation, but when Joao Felix hits the post, it's because he thinks there's a goalkeeper in front of him who's going to get it. We were successful, but a big part of that was down to Mike."
Meanwhile, Portugal manager Roberto Martinez put it down to 'bad luck'. "I can tell you that the whole squad was supporting each other and only players who never shoot a penalty never miss," Martinez said. "Joao has great control of the inside game, he worked hard to be there and this penalty is bad luck."
Felix's miss came less than a week after Barcelona confirmed that he'd be leaving the club following his season-long loan. The former Benfica wonderkid also had a spell with Chelsea in the 2022-23 season, having failed to impress Diego Simeone since joining Atletico for a club-record £113million five years ago.
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Lars Baron/Getty Images)His international career has also never had liftoff, with Portugal now eyeing the 2026 World Cup as their next chance to win a major trophy. "The individual talent of this team is there for all of us to see," boss Martinez continued post-match.
"They showed great unity and knew how to suffer, always with the desire to win. We lost but we lost with pride, always giving everything in every minute, in true Portuguese style. We won't stop here. In the future, we will give everything."
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