Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal off the mark again at European Championship

Cristiano Ronaldo experienced a night to forget on his record 128th Portugal appearance Saturday at Paris, missing a late penalty in a 0-0 draw against Austria that left his team winless after two matches at the European Championship.

As goalkeeper Robert Almer dived to his left, Ronaldo struck the spotkick in the opposite direction but it crashed against the post in the 79th minute.

Ronaldo then thought he had netted his 59th Portugal goal about five minutes later, but it was ruled out for offside.

It summed up a frustrating night at the Parc des Princes for the Portugal captain, who is still waiting to score in a record fourth European Championship.

If his team struggles again in its final Group F game against Hungary, Portugal could be going home early after also drawing its opening game against Iceland. Austria is off the mark after opening with a loss to Hungary.

There was a brief security scare after the final whistle when a fan rushed onto the field to approach Ronaldo. A steward intervened, but Ronaldo allowed the fan to pose for a selfie.

Ronaldo won’t want any pictures to remember this game. It was a landmark match but not a memorable one for the Real Madrid forward.

It was all Portugal but all frustration.

Austria goalkeeper Robert Almer was the initial barrier, blocking Nani’s shot and tipping Vieirinha’s effort wide in quick succession.

After belittling Iceland’s modest ambitions after last week’s draw, Ronaldo wasn’t living up to his own high standards.

Nani’s interplay with Raphael Guerreiro on the left flank led to the ball being squared invitingly to Ronaldo but he sent the shot wide in the 28th.

Ronaldo clasped his hands and looked up to the skies. The anguish was etched on his face and was there again 10 minutes later. Presented with another opening by Ricardo Quaresma, Ronaldo shot straight at Almer.

It was a strong performance by Almer, who tued Joao Moutinho’s shot over after Nani header’s came off the post before the break.

The second half opened with Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio called into action for the first time, tuing Stefan Ilsanker’s shot away.

But Ronaldo couldn’t beat Patricio’s opposite number. Two free kicks hit the Austrian defensive wall making it 36 such touament set pieces Ronaldo has failed to score from and a header was saved.

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Even when Ronaldo was hauled down in the penalty area by Martin Hinteregger, Ronaldo couldn’t seize the opening as his spotkick struck the post.

Belgium 3, Ireland 0 >> After a poor start to the European Championship, Belgium began living up to its promise with a resounding victory over Ireland at Bordeaux, France.

Romelu Lukaku scored two second-half goals as Belgium’s much-vaunted attack finally sprang to life after a disappointing display in the opening 2-0 loss to Italy.

“I’m very happy for the team, you know,” Lukaku said. “I think it was very important for us to win today, to deliver a good performance after the game against Italy, which was a setback.

“Sometimes you need a setback, because we have a young squad. It’s good because we faced the reality. We knew that Italy’s a good side, they showed it against us. Now we are awake and have to become even better after the performance of today.”

Having earlier wasted a series of chances, Belgium one of the touament favorites started the second half strongly and it wasn’t long before the team went ahead.

Lukaku struck in the 48th minute after a swift counterattack that owed much to Kevin De Bruyne’s burst down the right flank. Lukaku controlled De Bruyne’s square pass before driving the ball low into the bottom left coer from the edge of the penalty area.

Axel Witsel doubled the score in the 61st, when he jumped above Ireland midfielder James McCarthy to crisply head in Thomas Meunier’s cross for his first inteational goal in nearly two years.

Ireland went on the attack in an attempt to claw back the arrears, but the team was once again caught out by a pacey Belgian counterattack. Eden Hazard raced down the right from inside his own half before squaring for Lukaku, who slotted the ball past Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph in the 70th.

Witsel, who was named man of the match, said the first goal was the key.

“What’s important is the team’s mentality,” he said. “We didn’t give them anything in the first half. At halftime, we spoke a lot about passion.”

Witsel heaped praise on Lukaku, saying his teammate should have been named man of the match instead, for his two goals.

“We chose to play on the ground, to play short passes, and that’s how we managed to find the advantage tonight,” Belgium coach Marc Wilmots said. “I think we came up with the right strategy. I congratulate the players for their selflessness.”

The defeat against Italy had raised renewed question marks over whether Belgium’s supposed “golden generation” of players could deliver on a touament stage.

“I think individually they are as talented a team as any in the competition,” Ireland coach Martin O’Neill said.

Belgium now has three points from its two games in Group E, while Ireland has one. Belgium plays Sweden next and a draw would most likely seal the team’s qualification to the round of 16.

Ireland meets Italy, which has now won the group. Ireland will likely need to beat Italy to stand a chance of advancing.

“We have a game to win and we have to throw everything into it,” O’Neill said.

In the 24-team format that’s being used at Euro 2016 for the first time, four third-placed group teams will qualify for the round of 16.

Hungary 1, Iceland 1 >> Birkir Saevarsson scored a late own-goal to hand Hungary a draw with Iceland at Marseille, France, in another touament match affected by crowd trouble.

Saevarsson tued a cross from Nemanja Nikolic into his own net as Iceland was headed for its first victory at a major touament.

As the players celebrated the 88th-minute equalizer, Hungarian fans threw flares onto the field and into a group of nearby police officers, delaying the restart.

Iceland took the lead in the 40th minute when Gylfi Sigurdsson scored from the penalty spot, hitting the ball low and hard to veteran goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly’s right.

The penalty followed a chaotic scramble in the area after Kiraly caught, then dropped, a cross from Johann Gudmundsson. In the ensuing melee, Russian referee Sergei Karasev ruled that defender Tamas Kadar had fouled Aron Gunnarsson.

Iceland veteran Eidur Gudjohnsen nearly scored a winner with the final kick of the match, but his low shot from the edge of the box was deflected wide.

Hungary now has four points in Group F and looks set to qualify for the round of 16. Iceland has two points and next plays Austria.

Before the match, Hungarian fans clashed with stewards and a small group of French police as they forced their way over a fence in a coer section of the Stade Velodrome in an attempt to cross into another stand and join a hardcore fan group behind the goal.

A flare was later waved during the national anthems in the Hungarian end, which was packed with supporters in black t-shirts, and a firecracker was thrown onto the field from the same part of the stand after the referee awarded the penalty.

Another flare was lit after the final whistle when Hungarian players ran to celebrate with supporters.

Hungary is likely to face a significant fine from UEFA after repeated crowd trouble, a day after fighting and flare-throwing by Croatian supporters.