The eternal duel between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi has birthed yet another immortal chapter. In the wake of Portugal‘s breathless 2-1 conquest over Croatia in the Round of 32, a seismic milestone was reached. Stepping up to the penalty spot, Ronaldo fired a strike that echoed across history, officially drawing level with Messi’s World Cup legacy.
The knockout clash in Toronto delivered everything expected from two experienced European sides. Croatia took the lead through Ivan Perisic, Portugal responded through Ronaldo from the penalty spot, and Goncalo Ramos headed home a dramatic stoppage-time winner to send Portugal into the Round of 16.
Portugal endured a frustrating opening period despite creating promising situations around Croatia’s penalty area. Ronaldo came close on a couple of occasions, while Joao Cancelo repeatedly looked dangerous from the left, but neither side managed to break the deadlock before halftime.
The match exploded into life after the interval when the Checkered Ones grew in confidence. Mateo Kovacic tested Diogo Costa before Perisic fired home to hand Croatia a valuable advantage and put the Selecao das Quinas under immediate pressure.
Zlatko Dalic’s players nearly doubled their lead moments later as Costa produced another pair of important saves. Portugal, however, gradually regained control and found the breakthrough after Renato Veiga was brought down inside the penalty area.
Ronaldo equals Messi with latest World Cup penalty achievement
With Portugal needing a response, Cristiano Ronaldo calmly converted the resulting penalty in the 68th minute, keeping his composure under enormous pressure. Although he had earlier seen a well-taken finish ruled out for offside, the captain made no mistake from 12 yards.
That successful penalty also saw Ronaldo equal Lionel Messi in one remarkable piece of World Cup history. Both superstars have now scored four penalties in FIFA World Cup matches (excluding penalty shootouts), placing them level among the tournament’s greatest penalty takers.
Only Harry Kane, with five successful World Cup penalties, currently sits ahead of both soccer icons. With the knockout stages still underway, that record could yet change before the tournament concludes.
Portugal completes the comeback as Ronaldo adds more milestones
Roberto Marinez and his players continued pushing after the equalizer and eventually found their reward deep into stoppage time. Substitute Goncalo Ramos timed his run perfectly to head home Rafael Leao’s cross and complete a memorable comeback victory.
Croatia believed it had rescued extra time moments later when Josko Gvardiol found the net. However, following a lengthy VAR review, Mario Pasalic was judged to have been offside during the build-up, leaving Croatia heartbroken as Portugal celebrated qualification.
Cristiano Ronaldo #7 of Portugal celebrates after scoring against Croatia.
The penalty carried even greater significance beyond helping Portugal advance. It was Ronaldo’s first-ever goal in a FIFA World Cup knockout match, ending a statistic that had followed him throughout an extraordinary international career.
Before the game, the Portuguese captain had gone through eight previous World Cup knockout appearances without finding the net. The strike also made Ronaldo the oldest player ever to score in a World Cup knockout-stage match, adding yet another record to an already remarkable résumé.
