Joao Felix’s brilliance was offset by Josko Gvardiol’s perseverance as Portugal and Croatia played out a thrilling 1-1 draw on Monday evening.

Portugal made seven changes to the side that beat Poland 5-1 at the weekend, but it looked like they would have more than enough to dispose of the Croats early on.

The excellent Felix gave the visitors a deserved lead in the 33rd minute when he superbly controlled Vitinha’s incisive pass before firing the ball through the legs of Dominik Livakovic.

Andrej Kramaric fired a warning shot at Portugal when his effort hit the post, followed by the lively Rafael Leao and Felix going close again for the away side.

Croatia improved in the second half and thought they had equalized around the hour mark, but Gvardiol’s header was disallowed for being offside.

But the Manchester City defender scored his goal in the 65th minute when he turned in Kristijan Jakic’s teasing cross.

On the one hand, Livakovic brilliantly saved Mendes’ shot, and on the other, Jose Sa made a remarkable stop to keep out Ante Budimir – who was later also denied by the post.

Neither side could be separated in an entertaining match as both teams progressed to the last eight of the Nations League.

GOAL rates the Portuguese players from the Poljud Stadium…