Morocco laid siege to the Portugal goal, but are out of the World Cup after Cristiano Ronaldo inflicted a 1-0 defeat.
Hervé Renard’s side were the better team for the majority of the game, but an early lapse in concentration sent them home.
It didn’t take long for Portugal to open the scoring, and there was never any doubt about where the goal would come from.
Bernardo Silva opted to take a short corner to Joao Moutinho, who swung the ball into the box.
Morocco laid siege to the Portugal goal, but are out of the World Cup after Cristiano Ronaldo inflicted a 1-0 defeat.
Hervé Renard’s side were the better team for the majority of the game, but an early lapse in concentration sent them home.
It didn’t take long for Portugal to open the scoring, and there was never any doubt about where the goal would come from.
Bernardo Silva opted to take a short corner to Joao Moutinho, who swung the ball into the box.
Cristiano Ronaldo had been left unmarked, and inevitably headed in his fourth goal of the tournament.
It was a frantic start, and the African side were actually having the better of the opening exchanges.
The Portuguese defence were looking shaky, and Rui Patricio had to get down sharply to deny Hakim Ziyech.
Nordin Arabat went down in the box looking for a penalty, but his appeals were waved away and VAR didn’t intervene.
Just before the break, a Ziyech free-kick was flicked on by Younes Belhanda, but Juventus defender Medhi Benatia just failed to reached it at the back post.
Portugal should have killed it just after the break, but Silva miscued from Joao Mario’s cutback before Ronaldo blazed a shot over the bar.
Morocco were still pushing though, and it took one of the saves of the tournament to deny them an equaliser on 57 minutes.
Ziyach curled in a free-kick which was met by Belhanda. His header was powerful and aimed downward, but Patricio somehow got down to tip it away.
Three minutes later, Benatia side-stepped a challenge in the box, but his left-footed effort went well over.
Ronaldo smashed a free-kick into the wall from the edge of the box, then claimed for a penalty on the rebound, but the referee rightly waved his claims away.
Benatia missed another good chance in injury time, as Morocco crash out of the World Cup.
Portugal 1-0 Morocco
Ronaldo 4 (P)
Portugal: Rui Patricio; Cédric, Pepe, Fonte, Raphael; B Silva (Martins, 59), Carvalho, Moutinho (Ad. Silva, 89), Joao Mario (Fernandes, 70); Ronaldo, Guedes
Morocco: El Kajoui; Dirar, Benatia, Da Costa, Hakimi; El Ahmadi (Fajr, 86), Boussoufa; Amrabat, Belhanda (Carcela-Gonzalez, 75) Ziyech; Boutaib (El Kaabi, 70)