Portugal survive late drama to beat Croatia and reach World Cup last 16

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first World Cup knockout-stage goal of his career, Goncalo Ramos netted a stoppage-time header and Portugal got a last-second break on an offside call to beat Croatia 2-1 on Thursday and set up a last-16 clash with Spain.

Croatia looked to have equalized at the end, leaving Ronaldo crestfallen ‌on the bench, but the last-gasp effort was ruled offside after a video assistant referee review, prompting the team's supporters in the south end of Toronto Stadium to shower the pitch with debris.

"It's difficult because it's a game if you don't win, you go home," said Ramos. "But for me, especially, I love those types of moments, I love those types of games, I want to play every game like that, I want to be in the big moment."

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It was Josko Gvardiol who thought he had equalized for Croatia in the 103rd minute but a review showed the ball ​had touched Igor Matanovic on the way through, which made Gvardiol offside.

"We didn't deserve this sort of finish," said ​Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic. "It's never easy when you concede a goal in the last minutes of the match but we should have resolved this differently."

Ronaldo, 41, became the oldest player to score in the knockout stage of a World Cup when he fired home from the spot to draw Portugal level in the 68th minute of a pulsating game ​before substitute Ramos rose above the Croatia defenders in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

The goal for Ronaldo, who was taken out of the game by coach Roberto Martinez ⁠in the 81st