Morocco out to revive ‘86 spirit

MOROCCO coach Herve Renard said yesterday his team will try to contain Cristiano Ronaldo when they face European champions Portugal in their upcoming must-win World Cup match although that will be a tough task.

“Everything has been said about Ronaldo. If you draw up plans against him he still finds a way out. He makes the difference, he is absolutely outstanding and exceptional,” Renard told a news conference ahead of the match today in Moscow.

“We have to do our utmost to make him less exceptional.”

Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in Portugal’s opening 3-3 draw against Spain while Morocco are under pressure at the Luzhniki because they lost their first Group B game 1-0 against Iran.

Defensive midfielder Nabil Dirar also hailed Ronaldo but said that Morocco must play to win.

“For us it is like a final. It will be a major battle for everyone. We will give it all, the only solution is to win. We don’t want to draw. We have good players and want to give a good show,” Dirar said.

Morocco were devastated after a late Aziz Bouhaddouz own-goal saw them fall to a 1-0 defeat to Iran at the weekend.

Morocco will be hoping for a repeat of history. The Atlas Lions have won just twice in 14 World Cup games, across five tournaments (including Russia 2018 so far), and the first of those victories was against the Portuguese at Mexico 1986.

Portugal will be aware they will encounter the defensive organisation that saw Morocco concede just once in qualifying, and keep Iran out until stoppage time.

Renard will likely play four defenders – including Dirar – in an effort to block the Portuguese attack. Their key forward during the qualifying campaign, Khalid Boutaib, will probably play in place of Ayoub El Kaabi, who struggled against Iran. – dpa and ANA