Will Ronaldo Finally Break His World Cup Knockout-Stage Scoring Drought?

Cristiano Ronaldo will try to end a 20-year wait for a World Cup knockout goal when Portugal face Croatia in the round of 16.

The Portugal captain is in line to make his 26th appearance in the tournament, which would take him past Germany great Lothar Matthäus and into second place on the all-time list. Lionel Messi, on 28, is the only player ahead of him.

Ronaldo has scored 10 goals and provided two assists in his 25 previous World Cup matches, but all of that output has come in the group stage.

That leaves him chasing a first World Cup goal in the knockout rounds, having failed to score in the latter stages across his previous campaigns.

He scored against Iran in 2006, added a goal and an assist against North Korea in 2010, and found the net against Ghana in 2014, when he also set up a goal against the United States.

His best group-stage return came in 2018, when he scored all four of his goals in that phase. In 2022, he scored once against Ghana.