Cristiano Ronaldo strike knocks Morocco out of the World Cup

European Champions Portugal were not among the favourites for the 2018 World Cup, but with Cristiano Ronaldo in this goalscoring form, that might need revising.

The Real Madrid star took less than four minutes to score his fourth goal of the tournament against Morocco and it proved enough to virtually confirm Portugal’s passage to the last 16 and elimante the Lions of the Atlas.

Morocco might have been labelled as one of the pre-tournament dark horses, the sort of side who will do better than many expect, but leaving Ronaldo unmarked at the very first corner is schoolboy defending.

As the first corner of the game was taken short to João Moutinho, the 33-year-old was able to ghost in and power a header beyond Munir from the edge of the six-yard box, handing Portugal the perfect start.

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Despite going ahead early, it was far from an easy ride, however, as Morocco tried their best to take advantage of a sloppy first half display and produced some lovely football.

Mehdi Benatia and Mbark Boussoufa both went close with headers as the North Africans took control of the game and caused the Portugal backline problems.

Much like their game with Iran, when a last-gasp own-goal consigned them to defeat, they could not make the most of their superiority and a lack of composure in front of goal means they are almost certain to exit the World Cup at the first hurdle.

Watford winger Nordin Amrabat was a menace for them on the right, once he got rid of the scrum cap he was wearing after suffering a concussion in the first game, whilst number seven Hakim Ziyech showed plenty of neat touches and quick feet, even if is end product was lacking.

Despite Morocco’s attacking intent, it was Munir who had to rescue them from conceding a second shortly before the break.

Ronaldo found Goncalo Guedes and his effort was brilliantly pushed away by the Moroccan stopper, when really Guedes should have scored. Take nothing away from the save, though.

Despite the experience of Jose Fonte and Pepe at the back, Portugal continued to look most vulnerable from corners and on the stroke of half-time, Younes Belhanda’s header somehow drifted past the post with Rui Patricio stranded.

If anything told the story of the first half, it was that Ronaldo had only managed 22 touches – fewer than any of his team-mates and only the two Moroccan centre-backs had managed less.

And unsurprisngly Portugal came out with renewed vigour in the second half, as Fonte headed wide before Ronaldo fired a glorious chance into Row Z in the first five minutes.

Those missed chances should have come back to haunt them as Morocco threatened again from set-pieces; Belhanda saw another effort quite brilliantly tipped around the post by Patricio, arguably the save of the tournament so far.

Although Portugal had begun to exert a degree of control on the game and Ronaldo fired a free-kick into the wall after being hacked down on the edge of the area, Morocco had two glorious chances to level in injury time.

Ziyech cut inside onto his right foot and looked set to score from just inside the box, only for Pepe to throw his body infront of the ball and deflect it behind for a corner. The centre-back’s celebration said it all. Moments later skipper Benatia smashed the ball over the bar from close-range.

It was not pretty from Portugal and far from fluid, yet it was hard not to compare it to some of their performances two years ago in France. They were dogged, organised and determined in defence and with the stardust of Ronaldo upfront, they can never be written off.

With Iran to come, they know that a victory against the minnows will ensure they go through, quite possibly as group winners.

Morocco, meanwhile, have looked like a side worthy of a spot in the final 16, but will go down as the first side officially eliminated from the 2018 World Cup.

For all their promising football and threatening set-pieces, they lacked a goalscorer and will hope they can produce a performance against Spain at the weekend, that will at least make sure they do not go home with no points.

Key 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 112^th 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.