Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the game as Portugal produced another defensive masterclass to dump Morocco out of the World Cup.
Ronaldo powered in a fourth minute header to make it four goals in two games before Portugal produced one of their trademark displays in major tournaments as they sat back and soaked up all of the pressure.
Morocco were on the front foot for the majority of the game with Portugal happy to sit on their 1-0 lead, but the Atlas Lions found clear cut chances hard to carve out against the European champions.
New Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio made a superb save off Medhi Benatia header in the second half, while late on both Benatia and the lively Hakim Ziyech wasted great chances from 12 yards out.
Portugal had to ride their luck at times but held out to move top of the group on four points while Morocco become the first team to exit the World Cup after another disappointing defeat leaves them bottom of Group A without a point.
It's a tough blow for Herve Renard's men who played well in both games but lost out to an own goal against Iran in the opener before being sunk by Ronaldo.
Portugal were cut slightly to 18/1 to win the World Cup but were still 11/8 behind Spain to win Group B. Ronaldo strengthened his position at the head of the Golden Boot market as he's now 11/10 to finish as top scorer in Russia.
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 (W6 D3 since).
- Portugal have lost only one of their last 11 World Cup group games (0-4 v Germany in 2014), winning six and drawing the other four.
- Morocco have lost seven of their last nine World Cup matches (W1 D1), failing to score in over half of those games (5)
- Morocco have lost their opening two group games at the World Cup for the third different edition (also 1970 and 1994).
- After scoring 13 successive goals from open play at the World Cup, three of Portugal’s four goals at 2018 have been from set-piece situations.
- Portugal kept a clean sheet in a World Cup match for the first time since 2010, when they kept three in three group stage games - they had conceded in five consecutive games prior to today.
- Joao Moutinho made his 112th appearance for Portugal - the joint-third highest total. He also provided an assist for Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener in this game.
- Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored more international goals than any other European player in the history of football (85 goals for Portugal).
- Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first Portuguese player since José Torres in 1966 to score a goal with his right foot, left foot and head in a single World Cup tournament.
- Portugal talisman Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to score five consecutive World Cup goals for his team since Oleg Salenko for Russia in 1994.
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