Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (7) celebrates after scoring their opening goal in the course of the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Portugal and Croatia in Toronto, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
TORONTO— At 41, Cristiano Ronaldo will get one other match in a Portugal uniform, because of a penalty he scored, a stoppage time header by Goncalo Ramos, and a VAR ruling the Croatia team still doesn’t understand.
Ramos headed within the winner as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in a wild finish that also included a Croatian goal disallowed for offside just before the ultimate whistle in a World Cup round of 32 match on Thursday night.
READ: Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first player to attain in six World Cups
The sport featured a matchup of 40-somethings — Ronaldo, in his sixth World Cup, and Croatia’s Luka Modrić, making his fifth bid for a tournament title.
Ronaldo tied things up within the 68th minute on a penalty kick that gave the megastar his first knockout stage goal on the World Cup before being subbed out within the 81st minute.
“I never felt any of that (fear),” he said. “Yes, nervous. But as all the time, you’ve gotten to be very positive for things to go well.”
Still, it was Ramos who gave Portugal the victory and a berth within the round of 16.
“I really like that form of moment, I really like that form of games,” he said. “I need to play every game like that.”
Portugal’s Goncalo Ramos (9) is congratulated by Cristiano Ronaldo (7) after scoring a goal in the course of the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Portugal and Croatia in Toronto, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
Portugal moves on to face Spain on Monday.
“First half we dominated the sport. In second half after the goal we get somewhat bit panic, but that is football,” Ronaldo said. “After the penalty, I feel it was somewhat bit higher for us. We created just a few possibilities and I feel at the tip of the day we deserved to win the match.”
In a postgame interview with Fox, Ronaldo proudly turned around to point out that he was wearing a Diogo Jota jersey and his No. 21, one yr after his teammate died in a automobile crash. “We knew this before the sport. It was a so special moment. We speak today to our group, the coincidence of life. It’s unbelievable.”
Things got weird after Ramos scored. With Portugal and its fans still enthralled along with his goal, Croatia thought it had tied things up 2-2 within the very last moments. But after a 2 1/2-minute delay, Mario Pasalic was called offside as VAR ruled no goal. Croatia fans threw bottles on the sphere and whistled in protest.
Croatia midfielder Petar Sucic said, “the referee said he didn’t see (anyone) touch the ball, he said that he had a sensor in that ball,” that caused the offside ruling. “For me, it’s an everyday goal.”
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said it was, indeed, the chip within the ball that triggered the choice.
“I want to inform them (Croatia fans) the message could be very clear: The balls now have a chip, and it’s very clear that’s why the VAR intervened,” he said. “It’s not a subjective opinion.”
Croatia opened the scoring within the 53rd minute when Ivan Perisic scored off a cross from Josip Sanisic.
Ronaldo, booed loudly by Croatia fans each time he touched the ball, got his probability from the spot after Nikola Vlasic was called for a holding foul contained in the box. Portugal’s megastar hitched his step and converted down the center because the goalkeeper went to his right.
Modrić led Croatia to second- and third-place finishes in 2018 and 2022, and the match carried the burden of the 2 aging stars each trying to understand the dream of winning the World Cup. Modrić is 40.
The lads, who were teammates at Real Madrid, shared just a few smiles and an embrace ahead of the coin toss before the match. The 2 met on the pitch after the match, hugged and exchanged just a few words.
“I played with Luka so a few years,” Ronaldo said. “We’re nearly the identical age. I feel he’s a legend of football. He’s still a legend of football.”
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Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said this was “probably” Modrić’s last World Cup, but added, “only God knows what’s going to occur in the subsequent 4 years. We’ll see. We’ll speak about it in Croatia.”