The Portuguese national team reserved its place in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, after an exciting victory over Croatia by two goals to one, in a confrontation during which it overturned its deficit into a valuable victory.
Portugal entered the match with a strong lineup, in which coach Roberto Martinez relied on Cristiano Ronaldo in the attacking line, along with Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes in the midfield.
Although the Portuguese national team dominated the ball in the first half, it did not succeed in clearly threatening Croatia’s goal, while Luka Modric’s teammates relied on counterattacks.
In the second half, the pace of the match increased, and Croatia appeared better, before taking advantage of a fatal defensive error to open the scoring in the 53rd minute through Ivan Perisic.
Portugal tried to return quickly, and Ronaldo scored a goal that was disallowed by the referee for offside, before the Portuguese team got a penalty kick in the 68th minute, which Ronaldo successfully translated into the equalizer.
After that, Martinez brought on Gonzalo Ramos instead of Ronaldo, and the AC Milan striker snatched the winning goal for Portugal in the fourth minute of stoppage time, with a wonderful header.
Croatia tried to equalize in the last moments, and Josko Gvardiol scored a goal in the last seconds, but the referee canceled it due to offside.
With this victory, Portugal set up a strong match with Spain in the round of 16, in one of the most prominent confrontations of the next round.
