Wednesday 15 June 2016 10:25, UK
We had to wait until the final fixture of the first round of Euro 2016 matches to see the tournament's star name take to the field. Finally, Cristiano Ronaldo's time had arrived. But Iceland hadn't read the script...
Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo went into Euro 2016 after one of the greatest goal-scoring seasons in European football history.
The Portuguese netted 51 times in 48 appearances for the Spanish giants, retained the Golden Boot and fired his club to Champions League glory by scoring almost twice as many goals as any other player in the competition.
Favourite to finish Euro 2016 as top scorer at the start of the tournament, Ronaldo - named the best player on the planet by Pele this week - had talked up Portugal's chances and, after bagging a brace in a 7-0 warm-up win over Estonia, seemed primed to become the first man to score in four different European Championships.
Iceland, at their first-ever major tournament, had other ideas in Saint-Etienne on Tuesday night. And it didn't take Ronaldo long to find out he'd be in for a tough 90 minutes.
Dumped on the floor by a body-check from Aron Gunnarsson inside the first minute, Ronaldo's evening didn't get much better.
If the Iceland skipper was trying to rattle the Real Madrid ace, it didn't work. Ronaldo has become accustomed to such treatment and was racing into the opposition penalty area moments later. But then - as he would for the remainder of the Group F encounter - he came up against a determined defence.
Ronaldo repeatedly tried to find a way through and fired 10 shots at goal, twice as many as any other player on the pitch. Only one found the target, a statistic which highlights the impressive work from the Icelandic defence in limiting Ronaldo's clear-cut opportunities. Indeed, six of the 11 Iceland starters blocked a shot during the game.
Keeping the two-time Ballon d'Or winner at bay is no easy task, and there were moments when Ronaldo got the better of his markers. A smart dummy did for Ari Freyr Skulason on 20 minutes and allowed the Portugal captain to cross for Nani, who wastefully headed straight at goalkeeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson.
Ronaldo's best chance of the match came just four minutes later. A long ball over the Icelandic defence from Pepe was inch-perfect but Ronaldo, aiming to volley the ball home, only connected with thin air. It was an uncharacteristic miss.
Nani did find the net just after the half-hour mark, but Portugal were punished for failing to find a second by Birkir Bjarnason's cool 50th-minute finish.
Ronaldo's response was to demand the ball from his team-mates, run at his opponents and fire speculative shots from distance at the Iceland goal, his play becoming more and more frantic as the clock ticked towards a shock result.
With five minutes remaining, he was presented with only his second clear-cut chance. Picked out by a right-wing cross from Nani, Ronaldo planted a free header into the arms of Halldorsson.
Deep into injury-time, Ronaldo blasted two free-kicks into the Iceland wall. It was a neat symbol of his struggles for the past hour and a half. There was no way through.
For Iceland, the final whistle signalled one of the finest moments in their footballing history. A moment Portugal and Ronaldo will aim to forget as quickly as possible, before re-focusing on Saturday's clash with Austria at the Parc des Princes.
Ronaldo went goalless there in October in a Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain. Portugal can ill-afford him to draw a blank again.
