Portugal manager opted for a change in attack for Thursday’s round-of-32 World Cup match against Croatia, inserting Rafael Leao in place of Joao Felix. Leao joins Cristiano Ronaldo and Pedro Neto up front.
Ronaldo now stands to surpass Lothar Matthaeus, moving to second on the all-time World Cup appearance list with 26 matches, trailing only Lionel Messi.
Croatia remained unchanged from the lineup that secured a 2-1 victory over Ghana in their group-stage finale.
This marks the first World Cup meeting between the two nations. The winner advances to face Spain on Monday in Dallas for a spot in the quarter-finals.