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Krishan Davis · Jul 07, 2026 05:22+08:00

Portugal player ratings vs Spain: It's over for Cristiano Ronaldo! CR7's World Cup career ends in bitter disappointment as Bruno Fernandes no-shows again

Player ratings · Portugal · Spain · World Cup

FEATURES · Portugal vs Spain · International

Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career was brought to a bitterly disappointing close as Portugal were defeated 1-0 by their neighbours Spain in the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup on Monday. The legendary attacker was peripheral before Mikel Merino's stoppage-time strike settled an underwhelming heavyweight tie in Dallas.

The first half of the Iberian derby was evenly matched. Joao Cancelo lashed over from range at one end seven minutes in, and Mikel Oyarzabal was played clean through at the other straight afterwards only to pull his shot wide. As the two sides continued to exchange attacks, Ronaldo drew a routine stop from the angle and Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa sprang into action to make an excellent double save from Lamine Yamal and Alex Baena's curling efforts.

Portugal edged into the ascendency late in the half. Joao Felix's back-post header caused chaos in the Spanish box, but Ronaldo's improvised flick towards goal didn't have enough power to bother Unai Simon. The Seleccao's best moment arrived shortly before the break, when Nuno Mendes' fierce strike was deflected onto the crossbar.

The second period was largely a damp squib, although Costa was forced to push a Yamal free-kick over the top and Fernandes slashed a shot into the side-netting at the other end. But then came the hammer blow. In the 91st minute, Spanish substitute Mikel Merino was slipped through by Ferran Torres' cute pass, and he fired a perfect low finish beyond the stranded goalkeeper to win the tie and send Portugal and Ronaldo packing. Substitute Bernardo Silva came so close to levelling out of nowhere in the final minute of stoppage time, but his flicked header landed on the top of the net.

GOAL rates Portugal's players from Dallas...

Goalkeeper & Defence

• Diogo Costa (7/10): Made a fine double save in the first period, springing one way and then the other. Could do nothing about the goal.
• Joao Cancelo (5/10): Pushed forward as usual and saw a speculative effort fly narrowly over. Lucky to escape a first-half yellow. Hooked with 20 to play.
• Ruben Dias (6/10): His head was like a magnet at times as he made a number of aerial clearances. Big block to deny Dani Olmo. Caught out by Torres' pass.
• Renato Veiga (7/10): Made a crucial intervention to cut out a pass into Yamal. Defended watchfully.
• Nuno Mendes (7/10): Played some sublime long passes and largely kept Yamal quiet. Went so close when his shot deflected onto the bar, but forced off injured not long after the break.

Midfield

• Joao Neves (6/10): Nothing spectacular but busied himself with defensive work and battled hard.
• Vitinha (5/10): Not able to orchestrate things like he does at club level and didn't create anything of note before going off.
• Bruno Fernandes (5/10): Another game where he wasn't really able to stamp his mark on proceedings, despite working hard.

Attack

• Pedro Neto (5/10): Some promising, pacy darts forward but dearly lacked end product.
• Cristiano Ronaldo (5/10): Saw one firm strike beaten wide but largely fed off scraps and cut a frustrated figure. Surely the end of his World Cup career.
• Joao Felix (6/10): Often looked like Portugal's brightest attacker with some nice touches but faded somewhat and was hooked.

Subs & Manager

• Nelson Semedo (6/10): Replaced Mendes and had to face Yamal. Didn't do too badly, though.
• Diogo Dalot (5/10): Spurned one decent attacking position with a bad touch.
• Rafael Leao (6/10): Made good use of his pace on some driving runs.
• Francisco Conceicao (N/A): Not able to get into the game.
• Bernardo Silva (N/A): Swiftly booked for an unnecessary late foul. So close to levelling at the death.
• Roberto Martinez (3/10): A really disappointing end to a World Cup campaign that never really got going and another performance that was symptomatic of the need to revamp the attack. It's been reported he will step down, and he leaves behind a strange legacy.