Ricardo, Portugal’s goalkeeper, is one of the best in the World at saving penalty shots and he says that this is not only luck.

“Penalty shootouts are a lottery, but I train well too, but I’m not going to tell you my secrets, then you will know everything,” he said.

The normally jovial keeper became visibly irate at a reporter who suggested he was just lucky and insisted: “It wasn’t luck — watch the television.”

Portugal went through to a semi-final meeting against Brazil or France after Ricardo’s stops sealed a 3-1 win on penalties for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side. The match had ended 0-0 after 120 minutes.

“I’m not a hero. The hero is the whole Portugal team, the great player is everybody,” said the 30-year-old.

Asked whether he had ever saved so many penalties in a single match, he had to stop and think.

“I don’t think so. I’ve saved many penalties but I don’t remember if I’ve ever saved three in a match before,” he said.

Ricardo, who sent England home from UEFA EURO 2004 by converting a match-winning penalty in a shootout, said he had nothing personal against the 1966 FIFA World Cup winners.

“I like the English guys, but I like Portugal more,” he said.

Ricardo kept his nerve after Hugo Viana and Armando Petit missed their attempts for Portugal.

“When we missed two, we thought maybe we weren’t going to succeed, but fortunately we did. I had a lot of confidence, in my colleagues too…and I had a lot of people behind me,” he said.

Source: WCoffsite