TORONTO (AP) — At 41, Cristiano Ronaldo will get another match in a Portugal uniform, thanks to a penalty he scored, a stoppage time header by Goncalo Ramos, and a VAR ruling the Croatia team still doesn't understand.
Ramos headed in the winner as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in a wild finish that also included a Croatian goal disallowed for offside just before the final whistle in a World Cup round of 32 match on Thursday night.
The game 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 in the 68th minute on a penalty kick that gave the megastar his first knockout stage goal at the World Cup before being subbed out in the 81st minute.
“I never felt any of that (fear),” he said. “Yes, nervous. But as always, you have to be very positive for things to go well.”
Still, it was Ramos who gave Portugal the victory and a berth in the round of 16.
“I love that type of moment, I love that type of games,” he said. “I want to play every game like that.”
Portugal moves on to face Spain on Monday.
“First half we dominated the game. In second half after the goal we get a little bit panic, but this is football,” Ronaldo said. “After the penalty, I think it was a little bit better for us. We created a few chances and I think at the end of the day we deserved to win the match.”
In a postgame interview with Fox, Ronaldo proudly turned around to show that he was wearing a Diogo Jota jersey and his No. 21, one year after his teammate died in a car crash. “We knew this before the game. 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 with his goal, Croatia thought it had tied things up 2-2 in 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 field 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 a regular goal.”
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said it was, indeed, the chip in the ball that triggered the decision.
“I need to tell them (Croatia fans) the message is 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 in the 53rd minute when Ivan Perisic scored off a cross from Josip Sanisic.
Ronaldo, booed loudly by Croatia fans every time he touched the ball, got his chance from the spot after Nikola Vlasic was called for a holding foul inside the box. Portugal’s megastar hitched his step and converted down the middle as the goalkeeper went to his right.
Modrić led Croatia to second- and third-place finishes in 2018 and 2022, and the match carried the weight of the two aging stars each trying to realize the dream of winning the World Cup. Modrić is 40.
The men, who were teammates at Real Madrid, shared a few smiles and an embrace ahead of the coin toss before the match. The two met on the pitch after the match, hugged and exchanged a few words.
“I played with Luka so many years,” Ronaldo said. "We’re nearly the same age. I think he’s a legend of football. He’s still a legend of football.”
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said this was “probably” Modrić's last World Cup, but added, "only God knows what will happen in the next four years. We’ll see. We’ll talk about it in Croatia.”
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Lexie Linderman is a student in John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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