Portugal 2-1 Croatia: Goncalo Ramos seals the perfect week with record transfer and stoppage-time winner

Neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Bruno Fernandes. The hero of Portugal's passage to the World Cup last 16 was a player who has spent much of recent years growing accustomed to a secondary role.

Goncalo Ramos came off the bench to score the winner in a 2-1 victory over Croatia on Thursday in Toronto, placing himself firmly back in the spotlight of Portuguese football.

The script feels familiar. It is not the first time the striker has emerged precisely when his team needed him most. Although never treated as the leading man, Ramos has quietly built a reputation for deciding important matches.

He may not be the most technically refined forward, nor one capable of producing spectacular moments on a regular basis, but he rarely fails to deliver what is expected of a number 9: a presence in the box, an ability to read space and an instinct for goal.

His recent trajectory, however, had caused many to forget those qualities. After breaking through at Benfica, the striker spent two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain operating on limited minutes and as a permanent backup. The same applied with the Portuguese national team, where he was almost always behind Ronaldo in the pecking order.

Criticism followed his call-ups, and questions were raised over whether he was a reliable alternative in the biggest matches. Against Croatia, a few minutes on the pitch were all he needed to provide his answer.

Ramos reinforces his greatest career asset

Ramos's introduction came at one of the most delicate moments of the match. Portugal were level at 1-1 when Roberto Martinez made the decision that dominated the headlines: withdrawing Ronaldo, who had scored Portugal's equaliser, in favour of the number 9.

Ronaldo left the pitch visibly frustrated. Ramos entered to do what he does best.

Shortly after coming on, he found himself unmarked in the box to head home a Rafael Leao cross and secure Portugal's qualification. It was another chapter in a story that has repeated itself throughout the striker's career: limited minutes, enormous impact.

After the match, Portugal's hero summed up what his numbers have been demonstrating for years: 'It is a special competition, but the truth is that those who know me already know: in the last minutes, when you need a goal, I am there. It is not the first time, nor the second, nor the third. If you need a goal in the last minutes, call Goncalo Ramos. The message we sent today is the strength of our group. We are never dead.'

The statistics support the confidence. This was only Ramos's second appearance at this World Cup. Previously, he had featured only in the closing stages of the 1-1 draw with DR Congo. Yet his tournament record is remarkable.

In total, he has four goals and one assist in six World Cup appearances. More strikingly, the striker boasts a record of one goal every 47 minutes at the competition, the best ratio in the history of Portuguese football at the World Cup.

Milan and Portugal: the perfect week for Goncalo Ramos

The goal against Croatia crowned one of the most significant weeks of Ramos's career. Two days before the match, the striker was confirmed as an AC Milan player. The Italian club paid a club-record fee of approximately £64m to prise him away from PSG.

After two seasons without establishing himself as a guaranteed starter in Paris, the Portuguese forward arrives in Italian football surrounded by the expectation that he will finally assume the leading role many envisaged when he first emerged at Benfica.

At Milan, he is likely to find a very different environment: more game time, more minutes and a sporting project that is banking on his ability to decide matches.

Portugal's qualification also reinforced a key aspect of Ramos's career: his capacity to respond precisely when he appears to be underestimated.

While attention naturally gravitates towards Ronaldo and other national team stars, the striker continues to build his trajectory quietly but effectively. He does not tend to dominate headlines or provoke great debate, yet he consistently appears at the decisive moments.

It happened on previous occasions with the national team. It happened once again against Croatia.