Unfair on Gonçalo Ramos! Ex-Benfica man unused in Portugal loss | OneFootball

Portugal are out of the World Cup after being beaten by Spain (1-0) this Monday in their round-of-16 clash. A goal by Mikel Merino, deep into stoppage time, confirmed Spain’s superiority on a night in Dallas, Texas, when the team in red and green disappointed once again. Gonçalo Ramos, who had decided the “last-32” match against Croatia, remained on the bench.

The first major chance came in the 7th minute, when Mikel Oyarzabal received a pass from Dani Olmo and broke free towards Diogo Costa. However, the Spanish forward saw his angled shot go wide to the left of the Portuguese goal. The response came four minutes later, with a Cristiano Ronaldo effort from a tight angle that Unai Simón pushed away. Shortly after, it was the Portuguese goalkeeper’s turn to be decisive: Diogo Costa saved back-to-back angled shots from Lamine Yamal and Alex Baena, one from each side.

The Portuguese keeper came up big again in the 30th minute, when he stopped an attempt from Pedri. From the rebound, Olmo headed wide. The momentum was with La Roja. In the 40th minute, Nuno Mendes unleashed a “rocket” off Simón’s crossbar.

The game restarted at a slower pace after the break, and Portugal suffered an important blow with Nuno Mendes going off, one of the standout performers up to that point. With João Félix already off, the first real chance of the second half came in the 72nd minute, from a direct free-kick by Yamal that Diogo Costa tipped behind for a corner

.Spain were the more attacking side after the cooling break and were rewarded in the 90+1st minute, eliminating the Portuguese national team from the World Cup.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.