CRISTIANO RONALDO GUIDES PORTUGAL TO 10 VICTORY AGAINST MOROCCO
Early goals helps him overtake Puskas and become Europe’s leading scorer
MOSCOW: Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the few footballers on this planet who can evoke extreme reactions among fans. That was again evident on Wednesday when he led Portugal to a 1-0 win against Morocco; a result that put them on the verge of the next round and sent the Africans out.
Morocco begun brightly as Khalid Boutaib found himself at the end of a good opportunity after Hakim Ziyech fed him with a cross from the left. Boutaib’s header, however, was well over.
Portugal responded immediately and earned back-to-back corner-kicks. The first was from a deflected Bernardo Silva cross and the second after Raphael Guerrero’s shot was headed away.
Then in the fourth minute Ronaldo swooped to conquer, heading in from behind. Silva had taken a short corner-kick and passed to Joao Moutinho whose cross found Ronaldo.
It was Ronaldo’s 85th international goal and made him Europe’s all-time highest scorer beating Mighty Magyar Ferenc Puskas.
Portugal fans were delirious and there was no mistaking who their favourite man on the pitch was as every touch from Ronaldo was met with cheers.
Morocco fans though weren’t half as impressed by Ronaldo. When the Real Madrid star went down from a challenge by Medhi Benatia, somewhat theatrically, chants of ‘Messi! Messi!’ could be heard.
Seven minutes later, a freekick from Ronaldo failed to clear the Moroccan wall and the Messi’s name could again be heard.
Portugal fans responded with claps accompanying coordinated screams of ‘Siii’ on the lines of Ronaldo’s scream after his 2014 Ballon d’Or-winning speech.
Morocco became more of a threat as the game progressed. Hakim Ziyech, who roamed on the right flank and down the middle, created a few problems for the defence but nothing came of them.
For Portugal, Jose Fonte had an opportunity to head in three minutes into the half but put his effort wide. Three minutes down the line, Ronaldo had a shooting opportunity from the edge of the box but skied his attempt.
Morocco dominated proceedings for the next few minutes. They came close to equalising in the 57th minute when Ziyech’s pinpoint delivery from a freekick was met with an equally good header by Younes Belhanda. Portugal custodian Rui Patricio, however, produced a stunning diving save.
Then, Benatia had a chance to score from a free-kick but his effort was well over the mark.
Morocco threatened again in the 90th minute when Ziyech cut in and danced past two defenders before unleashing a powerful shot. Portugal’s Pepe flung his body on the line to deflect it for a corner-kick.
Two minutes into stoppage time, the ball fell to Benatia and again the Juventus defender skied his effort.
Not surprisingly, as the giant screen displayed Ronaldo’s name as the ‘Man of the Match’, boos rang out from the end that had Morocco fans.