World Cup: Ronaldo, Ramos seal Portugal’s Last-16 qualification against Croatia

Goncalo Ramos grabbed a sensational 94th-minute winner following Cristiano Ronaldo‘s opening World Cup knockout stage goal, as Portugal staged a remarkable fightback to overcome Croatia and secure a berth in the knockouts.

The substitute Ramos outjumped two defenders to nod home an excellent cross by Rafael Leao, right when it seemed like the enthralling game was going into extra time.

However, the goal was disallowed in the 13th minute of added time, as Josko Gvardiol bundled the ball into the back of the net, thinking that he was saving the day for his team.

But, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) chalked off the goal due to being in offside position.

It was shown in the replays that Igor Matanovic made the slightest touch to the cross before Mario Pasalic, who was in offside position when Gvardiol scored.

Portugal had control of the game throughout the first half, but Croatia came out all guns blazing in the second half.

Ivan Perisic opened the scoring line for Croatia in the eighth minute of the second half as Ruben Dias failed to clear a cross from the edge of the box.

However, after just two minutes, Matanovic thought that he doubled the lead of Croatia with his close-range finish but unfortunately, it turned out that the offside flag went up after Nikola Vlasic was offside.

Portugal answered right away.

First, Leao hit the crossbar with his curled shot and Ronaldo saw his delicate finish disallowed due to offside.

Then, VAR flagged the foul on Renato Veiga from the corner, thus Portugal received a penalty.

And Ronaldo did not miss the opportunity to score his first goal in a knockout World Cup game.

Meanwhile, despite the penalty, Croatia continued threatening their opponent.

Mateo Kovacic forced Diogo Costa to make two fantastic saves and Matanovic was blocked by the Portuguese goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation.

Besides, Petar Sucic managed to find the back of the net after the great through ball from Kovacic but the goal was disallowed due to offside once again.

Ronaldo, who became the oldest player to play in a World Cup knockout match at the age of 41, got frustrated after being substituted in the 81st minute.

Eventually, both teams lost the game due to the lack of the finishing touch until Ramos scored the decisive goal.

Portugal now meets the current European champions Spain in the round of 16 of the competition at Dallas Stadium, Texas, on Monday, July 6.

This game came to an end to the World Cup participation of Luka Modric who again put up an impressive performance in the middle of the park for Croatia despite the disappointing loss.

Immediately after the final whistle was blown, the celebrations of the Portugal players took on additional meaning as they paid tribute to their fellow countryman and late international Diogo Jota, who died one year ago to the day.