Highlights: Portugal edge Croatia at Euro 2016

“It was an unbelievable experience, one I won’t forget”, Bale said of advancing. “Our ambition is to keep fighting and keep trying to win every game we play”.

It was a cruel end for Croatia, who were arguably the best side in the group stages.

Croatia defender Domagoj Vida came closest in the 113th minute when he headed over the bar from Marcelo Brozovic’s corner as Portugal keeper Rui Patricio messed up his timing. Since being lambasted following a Matchday 1 draw with Iceland, Ronaldo has been magnificent.

Portugal received a late goal in extra time from Ricardo Quaresma to eliminate Croatia in the Round of 16 at Euro 2016.

GOAL!!! Ricardo Quaresma scores for Portugal in the 117th minute.

Croatia’s Luka Modric, left, hugs Portugal’s Nani, 2nd left, after the Euro 2016 round of 16 soccer match between Croatia and Portugal at the Bollaert stadium in Lens, France, Saturday, June 25, 2016.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos said, “It’s a very tactical match. we tried to take over, but Croatia didn’t let us, and vice versa”. “For the fans and the analysts and the pundits, sometimes we’d like to play pretty, but that’s not always how you win tournaments”.

They’ll have to be sharper to unlock Poland in the quarterfinals later this week. According to the announcers at the end of the match, the first shot of the match for either side came from Cristiano Ronaldo on the counterattack. This win is for them. The supporters have been incredible for us ever since we got here.

“We know a bit more about Belgium”. Everybody is motivated. We look forward to the next game’.

And by we, he means him.

It was another Real Madrid player who had the best chance of the first-half when Pepe nodded Raphael Guerreiro’s risky free-kick over.

The ball bounced up nicely for Quaresma, who could not miss with a header on the goal line, and Portugal took the lead against the run of play.

“What can I say?” “Switzerland lost and I’m sad about that”. They have a lot of excellent players.

“But unfortunately we made mistakes and paid for that”.

It was something of a reprieve for a Polish side that was dominant before and after Jakub Błaszczykowski scored before midway through the first half.

After the break, though, the Poles dropped back into a shell before finally conceding their first goal of the tournament. In extra time it was very balanced. We didn’t allow them to counterattack but going forwards we do have room for improvement.

Croatia could only wonder how they had managed to fold so badly in what should have been another winnable game afterwards. “We tried to deliver the last minutes, but they scored through a counter-attack”, Cacic added.

No arguments, Wales’ narrow victory over Northern Ireland to reach the quarter-finals was no classic, but Coleman once again got his selection and substitutions spot-on.