Portugal 0-0 Austria: Cristiano Ronaldo misses second-half penalty at the Parc des Princes

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as Portugal were held to a goalless draw by Austria at Euro 2016 on Saturday night.

Ronaldo - making a record 128th appearance for his country - had the chance to hand his side all three points, only to hit the post with his 79th-minute spot-kick as he and Portugal missed a host of chances at the Parc des Princes.

As a result, Portugal remain third after missing the opportunity to go joint top of Group F, while Austria stay bottom heading into the final round of fixtures on Wednesday afternoon.

Portugal boss Fernando Santos made one change from the team that were held 1-1 by Iceland in midweek, with mercurial winger Ricardo Quaresma coming in for Danilo, who was out with a back problem.

Meanwhile, opposite number Marcel Koller - the first Swiss to coach Austria - was forced into three alterations after his side were surprisingly beaten 2-0 by Hungary on Tuesday.

Koller brought in Watford centre-back Sebastian Prodl, rather than Tottenham Hotspur's Kevin Wimmer, at the back, as well as Stefan Ilsanker and Marcel Sabitzer.

And it was Leipzig forward Sabitzer who very nearly created an early goal for Austria, only for strike partner Martin Harnik to somehow head his inviting right-wing centre wide of the target from close range.

However, that was the closest Austria came to scoring in a first half dominated by Portugal, who would have gone in ahead at the break, but for an inspired goalkeeping display from Robert Almer,

The Austria Vienna No 1 was first called into serious action after 13 minutes when initially denying Nani with his legs after the Fenerbahce forward had broken clear of the Austria back line.

Then from the rebound, Almer tipped Vieirinha's drive from the edge of the box behind for a corner as Portugal began to step up the pace in search of the opening goal.

It was Ronaldo, though, who had the best opening before the interval following good work down the left wing by Raphael Guerreiro, only for the Real Madrid forward to side-foot wide from just eight yards out midway through the half.

Portugal came even closer to breaking the deadlock just before the half-hour mark when Nani stooped to head Gomes' left-wing corner against the post with for once Almer beaten.

However, Portugal were still grateful to Vieirinha for making a brilliant headed clearance from David Alaba's dangerous free-kick four minutes before half-time, otherwise they could have found themselves going in behind at the interval.

Koller had clearly had a word in his players' ears during the interval, with Austria coming out charged up at the start of the second period as Stefan Ilsanker tested Rui Patricio with a well-struck effort from distance.

Thereafter, it was one-way traffic as Portugal went in search of the goal to take them joint top of the standings, with Ronaldo seemingly on a one-man mission to become the first player to score in four European Championships.

First the playmaker stung Almer's palms with a rasping 25-yard drive 10 minutes into the second period, before Austria's increasingly busy 'keeper did well to keep out Ronaldo's close-range header from the resulting corner.

But the Portugal captain's best chance came 11 minutes from time after Austria defender Martin Hinteregger was adjudged to have pulled Ronaldo back in the box as he attempted to get on the end of a left-wing centre.

Incredibly, though, the forward hit the base of the left-hand post from the spot, with Almer diving the wrong way, his fourth penalty miss in his last five attempts for club and country.

And as if to compound matters, with five minutes to go the 31-year-old then saw his well-placed header from a free kick out by the right-hand touchline beat Almer, only for the 'goal' to be correctly ruled out for offside.

TEAMS

Portugal: Rui Patricio, Vieirinha, Carvalho, Pepe, Guerreiro; Carvalho, Gomes (Eder, 73) , Moutinho; Quaresma (Joao Mario, 71), Nani (Rafa Silva, 89), Ronaldo

Austria:  Almer; Klein, Prodl, Hinteregger, Fuchs, Baumgartlinger, Ilsanker (Wimmer, 87); Harnik, Alaba (Schopf, 65), Arnautovic; Sabitzer (Hinterseer, 85)