Costa Rica's Keylor Navas says saving a penalty as his country progressed past Greece in Sunday's World Cup last 16 shootout was one of the best moments of his life.
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After a tight game at Recife's Arena Pernambuco had ended 1-1 at the end of 120 minutes, Levante goalkeeper Navas was the hero with a save from Greece striker Theofanis Gekas as Los Ticos progressed 5-4 in the shoot-out.
Jorge Luis Pinto's side had taken the lead just after half-time through Fulham's Bryan Ruiz, but then played for over almost an hour with just 10 men following defender Oscar Duarte's sending off midway through the second half of normal time, and also suffered the pain of conceding a 91st minute equaliser scored by Borussia Dortmund's Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper, who was named FIFA's official man of the match, told AS afterwards that all the suffering had been more than worthwhile in the end.
"This is something marvellous, one of the nicest things that has happened to me in my whole life," Navas said. "When I saw that my teammates had confidence in me before the shootout started, it lifted me. We had suffered a lot. We played with the heart, we gave our lives out on the pitch."
Navas said however that a lot more than heart had gone into winning the shootout -- in which his stop from his former Levante teammate Gekas proved decisive.
"We had studied their penalties," Navas said. "A shootout was a possibility, so we had to be prepared."
Levante are reported to be keen to cash in on their most saleable asset once the tournament is over, with recent reports suggesting Liga Sagres side Porto are ahead of other potential suitors including Atletico Madrid.