2026 World Cup: Ronaldo scores as Portugal set up Spain showdown after beating Croatia in thriller

Goncalo Ramos’s stoppage time header sent Portugal through to the last 16 of the World Cup with a 2-1 win over Croatia, who had a late equaliser overturned by VAR.

There were emotional scenes towards the start of the match, as it marked one year since Portuguese winger Diogo Jota’s passing in a car crash.

Despite a fairly open start, Croatia began to frustrate Portugal, who couldn’t make the most of decent service out wide.

Rafael Leao, starting ahead of Joao Felix, put several good balls in from out wide, but Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates could not capitalise.

Croatia grew into the half, probing Portugal’s defence, but failed to properly test Diogo Costa in goal.

They continued this momentum into the second half and snatched a shock lead, as Ivan Perisic latched on to Josip Stanisic’s deflected cross before firing between Costa’s legs.

The 2018 finalists thought they had made it two when Igor Matanovic netted minutes later, only for the flag to go up.

The scare invigorated Portugal, who nearly equalised through Leao when he hit the bar, before Ronaldo had a goal ruled out for offside by inches.

It looked like Leao had missed a golden chance following a corner, but referee Espen Eskas was sent over to look at the monitor for a foul on Renato Veiga.

He gave a penalty, which Ronaldo duly converted for his first-ever World Cup knockout goal.

However, the decision spurred Croatia on, who hit the post through Mateo Kovacic before Costa made a string of brilliant saves to keep the scores level.

Petar Sucic netted for Croatia again but, for the third time in the match, the flag went up and VAR confirmed the decision.

In the third of 10 stoppage time minutes, Portugal pounced. Rafael Leao put in another brilliant cross and this time Ramos, leading the line after Ronaldo’s substitution, rose highest to head home.

However, Croatia still had time to find an equaliser and, with well over the 10 added minutes having passed, thought they had one when Josko Gvardiol smashed home from close range.

But VAR intervened once more and the decision was overturned, as Matanovic had got a feather-touch on the cross before it fell to Mario Pasalic in an offside position.

As bottles rained down from the furious Croatian fans, the match finally restarted as Portugal saw out the remaining seconds.

Portugal go on to face Spain in the last 16, as Ronaldo’s final World Cup continues for one more match at least.

Croatia exit having reached the semi-final in each of the last two tournaments, as Luka Modric graces the World Cup stage for the final time in his illustrious career.