Portugal 2-1 Croatia: FIFA World Cup 2026. Gonçalo Ramos headed a stoppage-time winner, and Josko Gvardiol had an equaliser controversially disallowed as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in a thrilling World Cup round of 32 contest in Toronto.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s first World Cup knockout goal had cancelled out Ivan Perisic’s opener in a contest that saw four efforts ruled out for offside, including what would have been a goal of the tournament contender for the 41-year-old Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo smashed a free-kick from distance into the wall, and Renato Veiga headed over from Nuno Mendes’ corner after being left unmarked eight yards out.
Croatia defended valiantly but were struggling to get out of their own half as Ronaldo failed to turn in Joao Cancelo’s swerving cross after 30 minutes.
Croatia took the lead in the 53rd minute as Perisic finished at the back post after Josip Stanisic’s cross evaded Matanovic.
Three minutes later, Croatia thought they had doubled their lead when Matanovic turned in Mario Pasalic’s low cross, but Pasalic had mistimed his run and was ruled offside.
The drama was not finished there. Gvardiol prodded in what looked to be a leveller in the 12th minute of time added on, but the referee ruled that Matanovic had got the faintest of flicks before the ball found its way to Pasalic in an offside position.