At the end of Portugal–Croatia, Rafael Leão spoke in the mixed zone about his condition and Diogo Jota.
Among Portugal’s best performers, as they narrowly defeated Croatia in Toronto in the round of 16 of the World Cup, he stood out not only for the wonderful assist with his head for Gonçalo Ramos in the 94th minute, but also more generally for being, from the first half onwards, one of the most dangerous players in his team. For this reason as well, head coach Roberto Martínez kept him on the pitch from start to finish. After the match, as reported by 'A Bola', Leão spoke in the mixed zone.
"I had a very difficult season in terms of injuries and, in a match of this intensity, it was just fatigue. But when the team has this spirit, tiredness disappears and I carried on until the last minute. Even with fatigue in my right leg, I managed to make the assist. We were all pushing in the same direction and that is what gave us the victory. We believed from the very beginning. There was an extra factor that proved crucial: Diogo Jota, who is always with us and also helped us in this."
