Cristiano Ronaldo was the difference maker as a lacklustre Portugal side defeated Morocco to make the Atlas Lions the first team knocked out of the 2018 World Cup.
Ronaldo’s goal, scored early on after he lost his marker from a corner, was all that separated the two sides in a match Morocco will feel aggrieved to have come out of without a point to their name.
Morocco started on the front foot, but before the fifth minute Ronaldo put his nation ahead with his fourth goal of the tournament.
That was a rare chance in the opening stages, and the match entered the routine of Morocco doing well with the ball while Portugal sat deep and looked to break with speed..
Ronaldo followed up his early goal with perhaps Portugal’s best chance of the remainder of the match, but he smashed the ball high and wide after Bernardo Silva’s cut-back found him on the edge of the area.
Despite that chance, it was the losers who enjoyed the best of the play, though they struggled to really trouble Rui Patricio in the Portugal goal until after the break. But when they did manage to get shots off, Patricio was forced to show his true quality to deny Morocco their first goal of the tournament; he first denied Younes Belhanda’s strike from just outside the box, before making a remarkable stop to keep out a header from the same player.
Mehdi Benatia fired over when the ball rolled to him 12 yards from goal, before Hakim Ziyech – a threat to Portugal throughout – curled a free-kick just above Patricio’s crossbar.
Morocco ramped the pressure up even further as the game entered the final 10 minutes, bringing on centre forward Ayoub El Kaabi and throwing bodies forward.
Ziyech broke into the area but saw his shot blocked by Pepe, and, in the dying stages, Benatia fired over again from inside the area.
The look on his face as he ambled back towards his own half, one of resigned disappointment, was mirrored by his team-mates, and likely the whole of Morocco.
STAR MAN
Hakim Ziyech may not have done enough to guide Morocco to a point, or even a goal, but he showed his true class throughout the match. He was a livewire in the final third, linking play between the midfield and attack with a number of fine passing movements and neat touches. He also created his side’s clearest goal scoring chances, primarily from set-pieces using his brilliant dead ball ability.
