Portugal advanced to the FIFA World Cup after a late goal from substitute Goncalo Ramos in a dramatic 2-1 win over Croatia on Thursday.
The match was tight until the last minute even when stoppage time was reached, when Rafael Leao found his way into the penalty area with a neat pass.
This neat pass by Rafael Leao was received by Ramos who arrived as a replacement and headed in the ball and gave Portugal a dramatic victory.
In the preceding minutes, Croatia had accumulated more chances to score, and was constantly a threat.
They even believed they had levelled the score in the final moments as Josko Gvardiol scored a goal.
He was however considered to be in an offside position as he was in front of the last defender before receiving the ball and the goal was therefore ruled out.
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It put an end to Croatia’s hopes and caused some jubilation among the Portuguese players.
Croatia were leading in the 53rd minute, when Ivan Perisic calmly scored after going past Portugal keeper Diogo Costa.
Portugal quickly gave the reply back through Cristiano Ronaldo. One of the early goals he scored was ruled out but he then capitalised on a Croatian defender’s foul inside the penalty area and scored a match winning goal.
The penalty was given after the referee reviewed the video evidence, which was then utilised by Ronaldo very easily. Interestingly, this was Ronaldo’s first goal in the knockout stage of the World Cup.
Croatia had several chances to score, but Portugal defended well and eventually, Ramos found the net.
Portugal will now take on Spain in the last 16 on Monday, and Croatia’s World Cup campaign will end.
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