Moscow [Russia], June 26 (NT): Portugal on Monday advanced the knockout stages of the current 21st season of the FIFA World Cup after they faced a 1-1 draw against Iran in their last group meet at the Mordovia Arena.

Ricardo Quaresma offered Portugal side the lead in the 45th minute, but Iran got the equalizer through a penalty conversion from Karim Ansarifard in the extra time.

However, the strangest part of the match was when Cristiano Ronaldo explode target with a 53rd-minute penalty and awarded after a video-assisted review.

That miss from Ronaldo, was penalized in the extra time when Cedric Soares was pinged for handball following which referee Enrique Caceres again went to his video monitor. However Ronaldo was perhaps lucky for not to see red for another VAR check after swinging an arm into the face of Morteza Pouraliganji,

On a related note Ronaldo has scored four goals in three games till now.

Not like Ronaldo, Ansarifard made no mistake with a dominant finish into the roof of the net to set up a attract attention finish in Saransk.

Marking this win, the European champions are now into the last 16 in second place. They are behind from Spain. Spain has secured a dramatic 2-2 draw against Morocco on the same day. (NT)