Cristiano Ronaldo endured one of the worst nights of his legendary career on Saturday in Portugal's 0-0 draw with Austria.

Let's be clear on something - Ronaldo was not horrific. He created some great scoring chances for himself, seeing many of them warded off by some strong goaltending from Robert Almer. It isn't as if Ronaldo was a ghost either, his strong runs in the penalty area helping him creating those grade A chances.

The problem is that Ronaldo put the spotlight on himself and failed in the bigger moments. The penalty miss in the 79th minute will forever be remembered. Same for the header goal a few minutes later that was rightfully ruled offside. People constantly point to the 10 shots on goal and 20 over through two games and the zero goals that accompany them.

But what don't realize is that this is not new territory for Ronaldo. Far from it. And when he has waded in similar situations in the past, he has found a way to reverse his fortunes.

Ronaldo's Charm the third game of the Euro 2012

Let's contextualize. The 2012 Euro tournament saw a Ronaldo arguably in his finest form ever. He had just scored 60 goals for Real Madrid in his first La Liga-winning season and had notched 45 goals in Spain.

But sure enough, he scored a total of zero goals through the two opening group matches against Germany and Denmark. In the opener against Germany, the dark invader managed four shots on target throughout the entire game but scored none. In the Denmark match, he put seven shots at goal and four were on target. While his team won, Ronaldo faltered in the scoring department.

His team entered its final match without qualification secured. In fact, Portugal could be eliminated if it suffered defeat against the Netherlands. Does anyone remember the result?

Ronaldo scored two goals to lead Portugal to a 2-1 win. He had 10 shots throughout the game and only completed 20 passes overall. He put Portugal into the second round of the tournament and eventually into the semifinals with two of his finest performances ever for his nation.

He repeats performance in 2014 World Cup Though his Team Fails Him

In the 2014 World Cup Ronaldo toiled through the two opening games against Germany and the United States. He had 15 shots across both games with his assist against the Americans his lone major contribution through two games. That assist did of course stave off elimination and Ronaldo did his utmost to stave it off once more in the final match against Ghana.

Does anyone remember that game? Ronaldo was a man on a mission getting eight shots at goal and hitting the target six times; he was stopped each and every time by Ghana's goalkeeper Fatau Dauda before eventually knocking home a late winner. Ronaldo did his job at that point, but Portugal's poor goal differential, thanks to a 4-0 defeat against Germany knocked him out of the tournament.

The lesson here? Ronaldo has usually stood tall in major group games where his team needs him to be at his best. No one is going to want to ward off the criticism more than Ronaldo, especially after his controversial comments against Iceland have blown back in his face. He has shown his ability to carry a team on his shoulders when push comes to shove and that is the effort that should be expected of him on Wednesday in the decider against Hungary.

The lone blemish on his game

One thing that is certain and must be said - it is time for Ronaldo to end his time as an automatic free kicker. He has gone 36 attempts without a goal at a major tournament and it is clear at this point that despite his genius, he is clearly overrated in this department.