Portugal 1-0 Morocco – Ronaldo eliminates Morocco
- Portugal 1-0 Morocco
- Ronaldo opens scoring (5)
Cristiano Ronaldo headed Portugal’s winner as Morocco became the first team to be knocked out of the World Cup.
Ronaldo’s fourth goal of the tournament, from Joao Moutinho’s cross, saw him become the leading European goalscorer in international football with 85 goals.
Morocco had several chances to equalise, Rui Patricio’s excellent one-handed save denying Younes Belhanda at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Portugal move to the top of Group B.
They are one point above Iran, who play Spain at 19:00 BST on Wednesday.
Belhanda thought he had levelled after meeting a free-kick with his head, but Patricio, who has signed for Premier League newcomers Wolves, produced an instinctive stop.
Medhi Benatia wasted four chances, including a snatched shot in stoppage time, while Belhanda fired straight at Patricio before Morocco’s exit from the tournament was confirmed with one match still to play.
The North African nation, beaten 1-0 by Iran in their opening game, are playing at the World Cup for the first time in 20 years.
Starting 11
Portugal: Rui Patricio, Cedric, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro, Bernardo Silva, William Carvalho, Joao Moutinho, Joao Mario, Goncalo Guedes, Ronaldo.
Subs: Lopes, Bruno Alves, Fernandes, Andre Silva, Dias, Ricardo Pereira, Bruno Fernandes, Gelson Martins, Mario Rui, Quaresma, Adrien Silva, Beto.
Morocco: Mohamedi, Dirar, Benatia, da Costa, Hakimi, Nordin Amrabat, El Ahmadi, Belhanda, Boussoufa, Ziyech, Boutaib.
Subs: Bounou, Mendyl, Saiss, El Kaabi, Fajr, Ait Bennasser, Harit, En-Nesyri, Bouhaddouz, Sofyan Amrabat, Carcela-Gonzalez, Tagnaouti.
OPTA STATS
- Portugal have not lost against a non-European nation at the World Cup since June 2002, when they lost 1-0 to South Korea (W5 D3 since).
- Morocco had 68% possession in their 1-0 defeat to Iran, the most by a losing team in a World Cup match since June 2010, when Spain had 73% possession against Switzerland but lost 1-0.
- Cristiano Ronaldo’s three goals for Portugal against Spain made him the oldest hat-trick scorer in the history of the World Cup (33y 130d). His third goal in that game was also the first time he’d scored from direct free-kick at a major international tournament, at the 45th attempt.
- Current Portugal manager Fernando Santos has only won one World Cup match (P5 W1 D3 L1), but it did come in his only previous game against African opponents, with his Greece side winning 2-1 against Ivory Coast in June 2014.