{"id":670939,"date":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/670939\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","slug":"how-bruno-fernandes-and-cristiano-ronaldo-fared-for-portugal-in-2-1-win-over-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/670939\/","title":{"rendered":"How Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo fared for Portugal in 2-1 win over Croatia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Bruno Fernandes started for Portugal on Thursday night in the World Cup round of 32 against Croatia.<\/p>\n

Taking on Croatia at the World Cup is never easy, and it proved to be a tough night for Portugal in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Croatia took an early lead in the first-half through Ivan Perisic, with Bruno Fernandes<\/a> and Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> part of a really poorly set-up Portugal team under Roberto Martinez.<\/p>\n

Portugal\u2019s equaliser wasn\u2019t found while Fernandes was on the pitch, as he was hooked off in the 62nd minute. After this, Portugal scored from the spot and then added what he thought was the winner in injury time.<\/p>\n

Before Croatia scored an equaliser, only for a very controversial offside to deny them, Goncalo Ramos\u2019 goal therefore sent Portugal through.<\/p>\n

Here is how Fernandes and Ronaldo fared.<\/p>\n

Which World Cup talent do you want Man United to target this summer?\u26a1\ufe0f <\/p>\n

Some real standout performers already, but have any convinced you that they should be United targets?<\/p>\n

\"\"Getty Images. \"PortugalPhoto by Europa Press Sports\/Europa Press via Getty ImagesBruno Fernandes struggles for Portugal<\/p>\n

Up until this competition, Fernandes has always been Portugal\u2019s main man, scoring and assisting a frightening number of goals for his country in the past year.<\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t been the same at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Fernandes started and had the best chance of the game for Portugal in the first-half, only for his two shots to be kept out by the goalkeeper and a block.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t able to create anything of note, often visibly frustrated by the centre-backs and two midfielders\u2019 reluctance to pass the ball forward.<\/p>\n

Portugal might have won, but there are so many problems within the team.<\/p>\n

To have a player like Bruno Fernandes and not funnel everything through him speaks volumes about the head coach. Spain next for Portugal, and they will have to be a lot better, but it might suit them to sit back and hit on the break, with Fernandes likely to have a lot more time on the ball.<\/p>\n

What does success for Man Utd look like for you in 2026\/27? <\/p>\n

While it’s early days (we need new signings) \u2013 tell us what you think United should be aiming for?<\/p>\n

\"\"Getty Images Cristiano Ronaldo finally scores knockout goal at the World Cup<\/p>\n

It took six World Cups, but Ronaldo has finally scored a goal in the knockout stages of the competition as he converted a penalty to equalize in the second-half against Croatia.<\/p>\n

It came moments after Ronaldo had the ball in the net, only for the offside flag to deny him.<\/p>\n

He celebrated as though it were the best goal he had ever scored, which shows how important it was for him to finally break that duck.<\/p>\n

His international career lives on, for now. But whether he starts against Spain should be up for debate because all around, he offers so little.<\/p>\n

But his goal is one he will cherish forever.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Bruno Fernandes started for Portugal on Thursday night in the World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3936,3204,59,101,56,54,55,58033],"class_list":["post-670939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-gb","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}