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SCORE: Portugal (Quaresma 45') 1-1 Iran (Ansarifad 93')
Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal took on Iran, who were a point behind their opponents and still in contention for a spot in the round of sixteen. After the Portuguese megastar's hat-trick heroics in the opener against Spain, Ronaldo went on to make it 4 goals in the campaign in the game against Morocco.
Iran, meanwhile, had an unbelievable start to the World Cup after they managed to steal all three points against Morocco, albeit thanks to an own-goal in the 95th minute. They showed a lot of grit and determination to keep the World Cup Champions, in 2010, at bay for the majority of the 90 minutes. They were unlucky to leave the game without anything to show for after an attempted clearance ricocheted off Diego Costa into Iran's net for the only goal of the night.
But, if Iran were able to beat Portugal on the night it would mean that they would guarantee themselves a spot in the round of sixteen. The situation was eerily similar for Portugal despite Ronaldo's antics, although a draw would be enough for the European Champions.
In a game filled with VAR reviews, penalties missed and scored, and the minnows almost coming up with an incomprehensible goal late on, here are the Talking Points:
#5 Change in personnel for Portugal
The Portugal coach must be really proud of the way his side has performed so far this competition. The way they reacted to going behind to Spain to salvage a point and then going on to manage the game against Morocco perfectly to give their hopes of progression a real boost.
However, he decided to tweak things a little in their final group stage game. He opted to start with the madness of Ricardo Quaresma in place of Bernardo Silva, the solidity of Adrien Silva in place of a half-fit Joao Moutinho, and the muscle of Andre Silva in place of a rather underwhelming Goncalo Guedes.
Adrien Silva would provide the solidity in the midfield and we all know what Ricardo Quaresma can bring to the table. Just in case we'd forgotten, the Portuguese came up with a thing of beauty to remind us all.
#4 Ricardo Quaresma with the spectacular!
The mercurial wide-man was drafted into the starting lineup by Fernando Santos in place of the Manchester City man, Bernardo Silva, after he'd missed out on a spot in the starting lineup for the first two games.
The winger is one of the most paradoxical players in modern football. Utterly devastating one moment and unbelievably non-existant in the other. For all his undeniable talent, it is his inability to reproduce that talent on a consistent basis that has resulted in him being shoved into oblivion.
We have seen some scintillating magic from Quaresma, but he came up with something even more special to open the scoring for Portugal.
The first half was petering out and he looked irritable at how little of the ball he had seen so far and decided to take matters into his own hands when he did finally receive it. He exchanged passes with Adrien Silva on the edge of the box on the right and decided to curl the ball with his outside of the boot first-time, past the keeper in goal, into the top-left corner. A magnificent trivela from a sensational talent.
Pity, we haven't seen an awful lot of that from him in his career.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo joins Lionel Messi on the list of missed penalties in Russia
Cristiano Ronaldo was hauled down inside the box after he'd edged in front of Ezatolahi, who tried to win the ball from behind but only managed to foul the Real Madrid man. The referee waved away the initial appeals from Portugal, but with the presence of VAR in this edition of the World Cup very little goes unnoticed.
The assistants in the video room decided to ask the referee on the pitch to come over and have a look at the incident on the video monitor. Soon after, the referee decided to overturn his decision in favour of a penalty for Portugal. RIghtly so.
After Ronaldo had slotted the ball home against Spain from the spot and Lionel Messi had missed this penalty in the opener against Iceland, who held Argentina to a point on the night, the world trolled the Argentina captain mercilessly. Comparisons of penalty conversion rates were brandished in an attempt to belittle the Barcelona man.
However, what followed the awarding of the penalty on the night only goes on to show how difficult it is to step up and take it on the biggest stage in the world. Ronaldo went to the keeper's left but so did the keeper, who made save and then reacted quickly to hang onto it.
#2 Iran inches away from knocking Portugal out and topping Group B
Following Ronaldo's missed penalty after the referee was forced to overturn his decision thanks to VAR, it was Iran's turn to get the rub of the green as Pepe was penalized for a handball inside his own penalty area.
Ansarifad stepped up and absolutely leathered it into the back of the net to make it a nervous 6 minutes of stoppage time for Portugal. Iran were buoyed by the leveller but knew that they needed the win to progress into the next round and that's what they almost did.
Azmoun's blocked shot fell to the feet of Amiri who, with just the keeper to beat, somehow contrived to miss from 6 yards out and lashed it into the side netting. That was how close they were to not just knocking Portugal out of the World Cup, but also topping Group B ahead of their opponents on the night and Spain.
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#1 Iran have made Asia proud in Russia
Out of the five teams to qualify from Asia, Iran were tasked with arguably the most difficult challenge in terms of progression after being slated alongside Spain and Portugal in Group B.
In fact, they weren't expected to get on the board at all with Morocco heavy favourites to get three points in the opener. Not only did they beat the odds, they also beat the Moroccans in the opening fixture. They were exceptional in defence against Spain and it was an unfortunate goal that saw them lose to the Europeans, before going on to hold Portugal.
Inches away from qualification and topping the group, Iran will be left gutted at their inability to make the difference when it mattered the most. But they have not only made their country proud but also all of Asia proud, as they went toe-to-toe with the best in the game and surely held their own. Plenty to be hopeful about for a nation only beginning to make a name for themselves in world football.
