Portugal 2-1 Croatia: Ramos header sends Portugal through, Ronaldo scores first WC knockout goal

Perisic scored the opener, Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty equalized the scoreboard and scored his first goal in the World Cup Knockout stage. Gvardiol's final-minute follow-up shot brought a slim of hope for Croatia but Pasalic is at offside position when he passed the assist.

Match Report:

Goncalo Ramos came off the bench to snatch a dramatic 2-1 win for Portugal over Croatia in the World Cup last 32, setting up a meeting with Spain in the next round.

Ivan Perisic had given Croatia a deserved lead, which was cancelled out by Cristiano Ronaldo, but Ramos' late intervention was enough as Josko Gvardiol saw a late equaliser ruled out for offside in Toronto.

Bruno Fernandes saw a first-time fizzer pushed away by Dominik Livakovic before Renato Veiga sent a free header over the crossbar in a first half with few clear-cut chances.

But Croatia were reinvigorated after half-time, with the introduction of Igor Matanovic giving them a new lease of life as he set up Mateo Kovacic's poked shot at Diogo Costa.

They got the goal their pressure deserved in the 53rd minute as Perisic brought down Josip Stanisic's deflected cross to drill a low effort through Costa's legs into the bottom-right corner for his seventh World Cup goal.

Three minutes later, the offside flag denied them a second as Nikola Vlasic failed to get back onside before pulling it back for Matanovic to help over the line. Portugal then burst into life, with Rafael Leao curling a stunning strike from the edge of the box towards goal, but with Livakovic beaten, he could only rattle the crossbar.

Ronaldo was also denied by the offside flag, setting off too early before dinking his shot over Livakovic. But he was not kept out in the 68th minute. Vlasic dragged Veiga to ground during a corner, with a penalty given following a VAR review, and the Portugal captain emphatically converted it.

Croatia had the wind back in their sails after that, though, with Costa making a superb stop to push Kovacic's whipped shot onto the post before smothering Matanovic's tight-angled effort. Sucic then thought he had won it in the 80th minute, having raced onto Kovacic's defence-splitting pass, but after slotting a composed finish past Costa, the flag denied Croatia for the second time.

Mario Pasalic flashed a header across the face of goal in the 89th minute, and that miss was punished five minutes later as Ramos rose above his defender to glance Leao's delightful cross into the back of the net.

In the 13th minute of second-half stoppage time, Gvardiol stretched to send the ball past Costa. However, Matanovic got a deft flick on the cross into the box, and Pasalic, who teed up the defender, had strayed offside, with the goal ruled out following a VAR review.

Ronaldo not done yet as Modric bids farewell

All eyes were on Ronaldo and Luka Modric before the game, with one destined for their last dance on the World Cup stage, and it was the former whose tournament will keep on going.

Ronaldo made history before the ball was even kicked, becoming the first player to feature in the knockout stage of the tournament aged 41 or older.

But it was the long-awaited goal that will truly thrill him. This was his ninth World Cup knockout-stage game, but the first time he has scored in one, with his goal coming from his 31st shot in such matches.

Ronaldo has scored three times at this edition, while all other players who were at least 40 years old have combined for one goal in the competition's history (Roger Milla). His penalty was his only touch inside the opposition box in his 81 minutes spent on the pitch.

While Ronaldo's tournament will go on, there is a chance Perisic will be signing off after this. However, he also does so with a slice of history as he is now Croatia's top scorer at the World Cup, overtaking Davor Suker (six).

Modric, who is reportedly set to retire from football now that his tournament is over, could not find one last bit of magic, as Portugal secured the win with their second-latest goal in their World Cup history, timed at 93:09.

Portugal were determined to walk away with a win, though, marking the one-year anniversary of Diogo Jota's death by continuing their bid for a first World Cup title, with Ronaldo dedicating the victory to his former team-mate following the full-time whistle.

Line-ups

Portugal XI: Ronaldo, Cancelo, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Dias, Diogo Costa, Pedro Neto, Leao, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, João Neves, Renato Veiga

Subs: Rui Silva, Semedo, Jose Sa, Guedes, Neves, Bernardo Silva, Dalot, Francisco Trincão, Felix, Matheus Nunes, Francisco Conceição, Gonçalo Ramos, Samú Costa, Tomás Araújo, Gonçalo Inácio

Croatia XI: Modric, Perisic, Budimir, Kovacic, D. Livaković, Vlasic, Marin Pongracic, Stanisic, Josip Sutalo, Petar Sučić, Martin Baturina

Subs: Kramaric, Pasalic, Caleta-Car, Nikola Moro, Martin Erlić, Kristijan Jakic, Petar Musa, Kotarski, Ivor Pandur, Luka Sucic, Gvardiol, Marco Pašalić, Toni Fruk, Igor Matanovic, Luka Vuskovic