Portugal defeated Croatia by two goals to one, in a match hosted at the "BMO Field" stadium, on Friday night, within the competitions of the round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup.
Croatia opened the scoring in the 53rd minute through Ivan Perisic from a shot inside the box.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the equalizer for his country in the 68th minute from the penalty spot, before Gonçalo Ramos added the second goal from a header in stoppage time instead of +90.
Joško Gvardiol scored the equalizer for Croatia moments before the final whistle, but it was cancelled out by referee Espen Essex for offside.
With this victory, Ronaldo's comrades reached the round of 16, while Luka Modric's teammates bid farewell to the tournament held on the territory of the United States of America, Canada and Mexico, and Portugal, in the round of eight, will face Spain at the Dallas Stadium on July 6.
Ronaldo enters World Cup knockout history
Ronaldo, the captain of Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr, received the Man of the Match award, as he scored a goal in the match from a penalty kick that equalized the result after Croatia advanced through Ivan Percic, before coming out to sit on the bench in the 80th minute, where he was replaced by fellow midfielder Ruben Neves.
Ronaldo's equaliser opened the way for Portugal, as his teammate Gonzalo Ramos scored the winning goal in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time.
Ronaldo scored his third goal in the current edition of the tournament, after scoring twice before for Uzbekistan, and that goal is his 11th in his six World Cup appearances.
Ronaldo scored his first goal in the knockout stages of the tournament, and he is also the oldest player to score a goal in the knockout rounds in the history of the tournament, as he scored the equalizer against Croatia at the age of 41, to surpass his former teammate Pepe, who scored a goal against Switzerland in the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, at the age of 39.
Ronaldo's sister sparks controversy: He will retire after the World Cup
Ronaldo's sister Katia Aveiro has said that her brother will retire internationally after the end of his country's 2026 World Cup campaign.
She added in statements to the Portuguese channel "Sport TV", before leaving for the Toronto stadium that hosted the match between Portugal and Croatia: "According to my information, I can say that he will say goodbye to us, not finally, I am only talking about the national team."
Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the most capped player with 232 appearances and the all-time top scorer with 145 goals, will also leave the Portuguese national team, as well as winning 3 titles, the European Cup once and the Nations League twice, and the World Cup, which the Portuguese team has never achieved, which is Ronaldo's main goal, will leave.
"Smart people who love football should love Ronaldo.. He's the person you're going to miss, he's been great for 20 years, look at us and the Aveiro family, where we came from and how my mother suffered, do you think criticism will ever affect us and our happiness."
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