A Wojciech Szczesny-less Poland were knocked out of the Euros by Cristiano Ronaldo and co, but they needed penalties to do it.

Szczesny did make it back onto the bench after losing his place to Lukasz Fabianksi when he picked up a nasty injury in the group stages and he will no doubt be very disappointed to lose out in such a manner, with injuries at unfortunate times costing him more than once.

An early strike from Robert Lewandowski saw the underdogs take a surprise lead after just two minutes, the Bayern Munich man netting for the first time in 644 minutes of Euro football.

A seemingly superb strike from Renato Sanches pulled Portugal level just after the half hour but on a second look he was helped massively by a deflection and that’s how it stood at the break.

In truth, the match ebbed and flowed between periods of boredom and excitement which I initially thought was just me drifting in and out, but I confirmed it on Twitter. You can always trust Twitter, right?

With no Arsenal interest in the game, we had to admit that the only thing keeping us tuned in was the potential of witnessing Ronaldo cry. His airshots sweetened the deal.

Alas, there was to be no winner in normal time and a further 30 were inflicted upon us, shorn of any sense of excitement or tension. Poland seemed dead on their feet but still summoned up occasional reserves to threaten. Ronaldo kept missing. And Portugal still couldn’t win a game in normal time in the tournament.

Penalties seemed inevitable, and almost deserved for making us watch this.

First up was Ronaldo who annoyed everyone by scoring and I won’t annoy you by running through all the penalties but it wasn’t Fabianski who was the hero as Rui Patricio saved Poland’s fourth penalty.

Quaresma stepped up to take his country’s fifth and as he slammed it home, Portugal made the semi finals of the European Championships.

Wonder will they go all the way without winning a game in normal time?