Cristiano Ronaldo Breaks Friend's Team Record in the World Cup with His First Knockout Goal
July 5, 2026 · Global
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first knockout goal in World Cup history, breaking the record as the oldest player to do so, as Portugal beat Croatia.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first knockout goal in World Cup history, breaking his team's record, to give Portugal hope in their last-32 match against Croatia. Trailing 1-0 after veteran Ivan Perisic, 37, opened the scoring in the second half, Portugal won a penalty via VAR after Nikola Vlasic brought down Renato Veiga during a corner. Ronaldo stepped up and took the penalty well, beating Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, ending a six-tournament wait for him to score in the knockout stages. This goal also made him the oldest player to score in the knockout phase of a World Cup, taking over the record from his former teammate, Pepe, who scored at the age of 39 years and 9 months. The penalty came just minutes after Ronaldo had an equalizer ruled out for offside, when he received a high pass and made a clever touch towards goal, only for the offside flag to be raised. That move may have saved him from being replaced by Portugal coach Roberto Martinez, who plans to field four replacements, including Paris Saint-Germain striker - and Ronaldo's backup in this squad - Goncalo Ramos. Martinez was right to replace Ronaldo, who throughout the match looked less effective and actually hindered the team, especially when Nuno Mendes tried to pass the ball to his captain at the start of the second half, instead of shooting himself. "Why didn't Mendes shoot? Why was he looking for Ronaldo there? That says everything about the Portuguese players. They were desperate to get the ball to Ronaldo," said BBC commentator Stephen Warnock. The Spaniard opted not to substitute a striker after seeing his goal ruled out, giving him the chance to score from the penalty spot and end his knockout phase jinx. However, after Croatia regained momentum and had their own goal ruled out for offside, Ronaldo was substituted with 10 minutes remaining, in what threatened to be his final World Cup appearance. That was until Ramos, coming off the bench, rose high to head in a beautiful pass from Rafael Leao in stoppage time, dashing Croatia's hopes of suddenly appearing to be on the way out. Croatia then almost equalized with the final kick of the game, but VAR once again came to Portugal's rescue as the goal was ruled out for offside - a light touch from Igor Matanovic proved to be the difference. Spain await Portugal for a huge last-16 showdown after they picked up victory in Toronto, with La Roja also making a statement with an impressive 3-0 win over Austria on Thursday.