Toronto. Thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s historic goal and Goncalo Ramos’ winning header in extra time, Portugal on Friday defeated Croatia 2-1 in the round of 32 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and made it to the last-16.
Croatia scored an equalizing goal in the last moments of the match, but after a VAR check it was ruled out as offside.
Croatia scored the first goal of the match in the 53rd minute. Experienced winger Ivan Perisic gave his team a 1-0 lead with a brilliant finish past Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa.
A few minutes later, Ronaldo sent the ball into the net, but the goal was not recognized due to offside. Portugal were awarded a penalty in the 69th minute when Renato Veiga was brought down by Nikola Vlasic inside the box.
After VAR review, the referee awarded a penalty. Cristiano Ronaldo converted the spot kick into a goal without any mistake and made the score 1-1. This was also Ronaldo’s first goal in the World Cup knockout stage.
After this both the teams attacked continuously. Croatia’s Mateo Kovacic had a brilliant shot deflected off the post by goalkeeper Diogo Costa, while Mario Pasalic’s header went wide.
After the end of the scheduled time, when the match was moving towards extra time, in the fourth minute, Goncalo Ramos gave Portugal a 2-1 lead by scoring a header on an excellent pass from Rafael Liao.
The drama did not end here. Yoshko Guardiol scored an equalizing goal for Croatia in the final moments of the match, but a VAR check found him to be offside and the goal was cancelled.
The Croatian players and supporters were disappointed by this decision, while Portugal celebrated the victory. With this win, Portugal has entered the pre-quarterfinals, where they will face Spain on July 7 in Dallas.
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