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FEED THE GOATEE.. AND HE WILL SCORE

CRISTIANO RONALDO is set to keep his “lucky” goatee beard – after scoring again to keep Portugal on course for the World Cup last 16.

Ronaldo (above) scored the only goal in Portugal’s hard-earned 1-0 win over Morocco, his fourth of the tournament to stretch his lead in the race for the Golden Boot.

The Real Madrid superstar sported his new look for the Morocco clash in Moscow, with team-mate Cedric Soares admitting Ronaldo will be keep the beard for good luck.

Southampton defender Cedric said: “It’s just an option – maybe he wanted to have it like mine, as I have one as well and maybe it’s bringing him some luck.

“So I hope he keeps it. If you look at our squad, a lot of us have beards.

“I know why I have it – I started in England and now I don’t want to take it off because it’s bringing me and us some luck.”

Ronaldo revealed the reason for the beard after the win over Morocco. “The goatee?” he said. “It’s a joke I had with Ricardo Quaresma.

“We were in the sauna and I started to shave and I left the goatee. I said, ‘If I score, I’d leave it for the rest of the tournament, so it stays’.”

West Ham defender Jose Fonte echoed Portugal team-mate Cedric with a similarly glowing tribute to Ronaldo after his latest goal-scoring display.

“He’s just relentless,” said Fonte. “He’s a very hard-working player, he’s always in training, practising finishing, free-kicks, everything. He’s a great leader and a great example to everyone.”

With Ronaldo having scored all four of Portugal’s goals here in Russia, Fernando Santos’ side have been accused of being too reliant on the 33-year-old.

But Cedric added: “Cristiano is the best in the world.

“It’s important for us to have him. It’s much more difficult to play without him, but we have him and we trust him.”