Portugal went through in second place in Group B at the World Cup, despite a draw with Iran amid VAR chaos.
On a crazy final night, the Portuguese went from top of the group to the brink of elimination in minutes, but eventually qualified behind Spain.
It was Iran who had the first chance of the game, but Vahid Amiri blazed horribly wide after good work from Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
Joao Mario should have made it 1-0, but the Inter flop somehow smashed over an open net after a mix-up in the Iranian defence.
Portugal went through in second place in Group B at the World Cup, despite a draw with Iran amid VAR chaos.
On a crazy final night, the Portuguese went from top of the group to the brink of elimination in minutes, but eventually qualified behind Spain.
It was Iran who had the first chance of the game, but Vahid Amiri blazed horribly wide after good work from Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
Joao Mario should have made it 1-0, but the Inter flop somehow smashed over an open net after a mix-up in the Iranian defence.
Cristiano Ronaldo attempted a free-kick from the edge of the box, but it struck the wall and bounced wide.
It was an open game but one without much quality, and it was the first moment of true class which broke the deadlock.
Former Inter winger Ricardo Quaresma cut in from the right and curled his trademark outside of the boot finish into the far top corner right on the stroke of half-time.
Cristiano Ronaldo had the chance to grab his fifth goal of the tournament shortly after the break, going down in the box and being awarded a penalty after a VAR review.
However, the Real Madrid superstar’s kick was poor and was saved by Alireza Beiranvand.
Substitute Saman Ghoddos found space on the edge of the box, but he fired his shot wide of Rui Patricio’s post.
The match looked as though it was heading for a pedestrian conclusion, but everything was set up for a madcap finish.
Spain went behind against Morocco, as Iran pushed desperately to grab an equaliser.
With 92 minutes played, Sardar Azmoun headed the ball down on to Cedric Soares’ arm, and the Iranians appealed for a penalty.
It didn’t look intentional, but after consulting with VAR the referee pointed to the spot.
Karim Ansarifard emphatically converted the penalty, just as Spain equalised against Morocco.
That meant that Iran would go through if they could find another goal, and Vahid Amiri had a golden chance in the 94th minute.
He could only screw his shot into the side-netting though, meaning Spain topped the group and Portugal went through in second.
Iran 1-1 Portugal
Quaresma 45 (P) Ansarifard pen 93 (I)
Iran: Beiranvand; Rezaeian, Hosseini, Pouraliganji, Hajsafi (Mohammadi, 56); Taremi, Jahanbakhsh (Ghoddos, 70), Ezatolahi (Ansarifard, 76), Ebrahimi, Amiri; Azmoun
Portugal: Patricio; Soares, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; Quaresma (Silva, 70), Carvalho, Silva, Joao Mario (Moutinho, 84); Silva (Guedes, 96), Ronaldo
Missed penalty: Ronaldo 53 (P)