Portugal and its veteran captain Cristiano Ronaldo, scorer from the penalty spot, overthrew Luka Modric’s Croatia (2-1) in a crazy round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, Thursday in Toronto, to offer themselves a giant poster against Spain in the next round.
At 41 years and 147 days, “CR7” extended his adventure in the World Cup, one of the rare competitions that he did not win, after a breathtaking and twisted duel against his former accomplice at Real Madrid, the former finalist Luka Modric.
In Toronto, the Star Wars produced a thousand sparks in a fiery second period, concluded by a final goal from Gonçalo Ramos (90th + 4, 2-1), Ronaldo’s understudy in the Portuguese squad.
The former “supersub” (super-substitute) of Paris Saint-Germain played a very nasty trick on his future partner of AC Milan, Modric, very close to international retirement after this elimination.
Between this clash of titans, there was only one possible ticket for the round of 16 and it was Portugal who won it, with an enticing future match to come against Spain on July 6 in Dallas.
Croatia, finalist in 2018 and semi-finalist in 2022, lived up to their reputation as an eye-catching team never to be underestimated and almost sent their opponent of the day to the ropes.
Goal canceled in the 103rd
The checkered team had three goals invalidated in the second half, each time for offside, the last of which was so difficult to establish despite the slow motion, during an interminable and unbreathable additional time, with Josko Gvardiol as an upset hero (90th + 13).
Ronaldo experienced a similar emotional lift, earlier and for the same reason, which invalidated his superb sequence of control and diving shot (61st).
But the five-time Ballon d’Or managed to get the goal he had hoped for, on a penalty that Croatia stupidly offered him after an anti-play fault in the area.
The striker from Al-Nassr, in Saudi Arabia, did not tremble when scoring his 146th goal in 232 caps, and especially his first only in a direct elimination match in the World Cup (68th, 1-1).
Gonçalo Ramos, decisive scorer
Coach Roberto Martinez decided to release his captain in the money-time (81st), a first since the start of the tournament, and neither of them had to regret it.
Because Ramos rose into the Toronto night sky to place an unstoppable header, despite two defenders behind him.
This “happy end” for the Portuguese took a long time to take shape. For a long time, they multiplied the number of missed or imprecise incursions against a solid Croatian bloc.
Bruno Fernandes was initially the most dangerous of the attackers, forcing Dominik Livakovic to make two saves (4th, 33rd), while Ronaldo appeared borrowed, like the crosses he failed to recover (9th, 30th) and the free kick he sent into the Croatian wall (13th).
As the clock ticked down, the perfect trap match scenario began to take shape. And it was even a horror film that took shape when Ivan Perisic, one of the heroes of the Croatian epic of 2018, opened the scoring (53rd, 0-1).
The 37-year-old winger with 158 caps, left alone at the far post, calmly controlled a cross from Josip Stanisic before sending a tense shot between a defender and the goalkeeper.
This first fuse set fire to a meeting that had so far been unexciting. Suddenly, the attackers began to ignite, which produced a second half with a feverish pace.
There was a missile from Rafael Leao right on the crossbar (58th), a double save from Diego Costa in front of Matéo Kovacic (75th), another decisive save from the Portuguese goalkeeper in front of Igor Matanovic (77th). And then this last Croatian goal refused, at the end of a crazy encounter.
