The first penalty of 2018 World Cup went Portugal’s way and Cristiano Ronaldo duly converted from the spot in the fourth minute to give his team the lead against Spain. Prior to this Ronaldo has only scored three goals in as many World Cups, the last one came in the final group game against Ghana in the 2014 World Cup.
Live Scores: Portugal vs Spain
The Real Madrid superstar played a pivotal role in Portugal's qualification for Russia 2018. The former Manchester United man was directly involved in more goals than any other player in the European qualifiers, scoring 15 goals and assisting a further three.
He had a chance to rectify one lapse on his resume after failing to score against Spain in 340 minutes of action, and he did it tonight.
Portugal and Spain's only previous World Cup encounter was in 2010. Spain won 1-0 in the round of 16 thanks to a David Villa goal. - Portugal and Spain's four encounters at major tournaments (World Cup and Euros) have produced only four goals. - Portugal will attempt to become the fourth nation to win back-to-back European Championship and World Cup tournaments after West Germany (Euro 1972, World Cup 1974), France (World Cup 1998, Euro 2000) and Spain (Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012). - Only England and Spain (three) conceded fewer goals than Portugal (four) in the UEFA qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. - Spain has finished top of its group in three of its last four World Cups. However, Spain has won only two of its last 12 opening games in the tournament (D3 L7).
