Gonçalo Ramos has scored four goals. All of them have come in knockout matches. On Thursday, the forward added another to that list, scoring the winner in a over a spirited in the round of 32 in Toronto.
After the match, the Paris Saint-Germain forward had a clear message for Portugal’s supporters: in the biggest moments, he is always ready.
“The truth is that those who know me already know that, in the final minutes, when a goal is needed, I’m there,” he said. “It’s not the first time, or the second, or the third. They can always call Goncalo Ramos.”
Speaking to FIFA, the centre-forward then kept things simple when explaining his instinct in front of goal at the decisive moment. What was going through his mind when Rafael Leao sent the ball into the box from the left? “When the cross came in, I simply followed my instinct. I’m a striker and I feel that I’m there for those moments, for those balls. I try to score from all of them.”
Spain will naturally be taking note as they prepare for Monday’s all-Iberian clash in Dallas.
The confidence in every word Ramos spoke reflected the glow of a historic victory. This was the first time in 60 years that Portugal had come from behind to win a World Cup knockout match. The previous occasion came in 1966, when Eusebio inspired an epic comeback against Korea DPR after Portugal had fallen 3-0 behind inside 25 minutes.
Against Croatia, Ramos came on 17 minutes into the second half as part of a quadruple substitution by head coach Roberto Martinez. Portugal equalised six minutes later through Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty.
In the 81st minute, Ronaldo was replaced by Ruben Neves as Portugal reshaped their midfield. From that point, the responsibility of leading the line fell to Ramos. He embraced it perfectly, completing the turnaround four minutes into added time.
“The message is that we are all ready,” Martinez said. “The group games were demanding, but the World Cup started today. The focus was to play with intensity, play with pride, play with heart and represent the Portugal shirt.”
It was the first time Portugal had fallen behind in the tournament, but it was not enough to break them.
“It shows that the team is growing during the competition,” Martinez added. “That is important. This is a short competition, but for us it is not. It is a long period of work, a long time working together. I think that is the message we sent: from now on, it is win or go home, and we showed our strength.”
Ramos' previous three World Cup goals came in the round of 16 in 2022, when he scored a hat-trick against Switzerland.
Against Spain, if Portugal need him, he says he will be there to answer the call. But he also made it clear that this is not about him. Asked what message he would send ahead of the next match, he did not mention his own name again.
“Portugal comes first,“ he declared. “Our pride. We will always go after the win and believe until the end, because we never give up.”
Sources: FIFA Official
