Portugal 2-1 Croatia Stats: Ramos Completes Dramatic Late Comeback to Set up Spain Clash

It was an all-action second half between Portugal and Croatia in Toronto, but it was the former who came out on top despite all the drama.

Gonçalo Ramos came off the bench to snatch a dramatic 2-1 win for Portugal over Croatia in the World Cup last 32, setting up a meeting with Spain in the next round.

Ivan Perisic had given Croatia a deserved lead, which was cancelled out by Cristiano Ronaldo, but Ramos’ late intervention was enough as Josko Gvardiol saw a late equaliser ruled out for offside in Toronto.

Bruno Fernandes saw a first-time fizzer pushed away by Dominik Livakovic before Renato Veiga sent a free header over the crossbar in a first half with few clear-cut chances.

But Croatia were reinvigorated after half-time, with the introduction of Igor Matanovic giving them a new lease of life as he set up Mateo Kovacic‘s poked shot at Diogo Costa.

They got the goal their pressure deserved in the 53rd minute as Perisic brought down Josip Stanisic‘s deflected cross to drill a low effort through Costa’s legs into the bottom-right corner for his seventh World Cup goal.

Three minutes later, the offside flag denied them a second as Nikola Vlasic failed to get back onside before pulling it back for Matanovic to help over the line. Portugal then burst into life, with Rafael Leão curling a stunning strike from the edge of the box towards goal, but with Livakovic beaten, he could only rattle the crossbar.

Ronaldo was also denied by the offside flag, setting off too early before dinking his shot over Livakovic. But he was not kept out in the 68th minute. Vlasic dragged Veiga to ground during a corner, with a penalty given following a VAR review, and the Portugal captain emphatically converted it.

Croatia had the wind back in their sails after that, though, with Costa making a superb stop to push Kovacic’s whipped shot onto the post before smothering Matanovic’s tight-angled effort. Petar Sucic then thought he had won it in the 80th minute, having raced onto Kovacic’s defence-splitting pass, but after slotting a composed finish past Costa, the flag denied Croatia for the second time.

Mario Pasalic flashed a header across the face of goal in the 89th minute, and that miss was punished five minutes later as Ramos rose above his defender to glance Leão’s delightful cross into the back of the net.

In the 13th minute of second-half stoppage time, Gvardiol stretched to send the ball past Costa. However, Matanovic got a deft flick on the cross into the box, and Pasalic, who teed up the defender, had strayed offside, with the goal ruled out following a VAR review.

Ronaldo Not Done yet as Modric Bids Farewell

All eyes were on Ronaldo and Luka Modric before the game, with one destined for their last dance on the World Cup stage, and it was the former whose tournament will keep on going.

Ronaldo made history before the ball was even kicked, becoming the first player to feature in the knockout stage of the tournament aged 41 or older.

But it was the long-awaited goal that will truly thrill him. This was his ninth World Cup knockout-stage game, but the first time he has scored in one, with his goal coming from his 31st shot in such matches. He did it on limited work in the opposition penalty area:

Ronaldo has scored three times at this edition, while all other players who were at least 40 years old have combined for one goal in the competition’s history (Roger Milla). His penalty was his only touch inside the opposition box in his 81 minutes spent on the pitch.

While Ronaldo’s tournament will go on, there is a chance Perisic will be signing off after this. However, he also does so with a slice of history as he is now Croatia’s top scorer at the World Cup, overtaking Davor Suker (six).

Modric, who is reportedly set to retire from football now that his tournament is over, could not find one last bit of magic, as Portugal secured the win with their second-latest goal in their World Cup history, timed at 93:09.

Portugal were determined to walk away with a win, though, marking the one-year anniversary of Diogo Jota’s death by continuing their bid for a first World Cup title, with Ronaldo dedicating the victory to his former team-mate following the full-time whistle.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Portugal vs Croatia stats from their 2026 FIFA World Cup round-of-32 meeting at Toronto Stadium.

The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.

Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.

Portugal vs Croatia: Selected Post-Match Opta Facts

The match was the 16th time that Portugal has trailed at any point in a FIFA World Cup match. It was just the second time they won one of those matches, also doing so against DPR Korea in 1966 (D2 L12).

Gonçalo Ramos’ match-winning goal was the second-latest goal scored for Portugal in their FIFA World Cup history (Silvestre Varela match-tying goal at 94:34 against USA in 2014).

Gonçalo Ramos has scored four goals in his 187 minutes played at the FIFA World Cup. The only other player to have less than 200 minutes played and at least four goals in FIFA World Cup history is Poland’s Ernst Wilimowski.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal in the FIFA World Cup knockout stage for the first time. The goal was scored on his 31st shot in the stage.

The goal was Cristiano Ronaldo’s third goal at this year’s FIFA World Cup. The only other player in FIFA World Cup history to score a goal at 40 years of age or older was Roger Milla in 1994 for Cameroon in a group stage match against Russia.

Ivan Perisic’s goal was his first of the 2026 FIFA World Cup but seventh overall in the competition. That broke a tie with Davor Suker (6) for most goals by a Croatian player at the FIFA World Cup.

At 37 years and 150 days, Ivan Perisic became the first Croatian player to score a goal at the FIFA World Cup at 35 years of age or older.

This was the first match in FIFA World Cup history to feature three different players who have appeared in more than 20 FIFA World Cup matches. The match was Cristiano Ronaldo’s 26th World Cup appearance while it was number 23 for Luka Modric and 21 for Ivan Perisic.

Croatia’s starting XI had an average age of 30 years and 99 days, the oldest starting XI of a non-group stage match at the FIFA World Cup since Croatia themselves in the 1998 third-place match (30y 126d).

With the start, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to play in the FIFA World Cup knockout stage at 41 years of age or older.

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