Morocco have become the first African nation to qualify for the FIFA World Cup semi-finals after defeating Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal 1-0 on Saturday evening.
FIFA World Cup
Result: Morocco 1-0 Portugal
Date: 10 December 2022
Venue: Al Thumama Stadium
Ronaldo and Joao Cancelo were once again left on the bench after Portugal's big win over Switzerland, as Gancalo Ramos maintained his spot after scoring a hat-trick midweek.
The Atlas Lions, meanwhile, were without Noussair Mazraoui and Nayef Aguerd due to injury as Yahia Attiyat-Allah and Jawad El Yamiq, were re-called to the starting line-up.
The game got off to a lively start as Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou did well to keep out Joao Felix's header before Youssef En-Nesyri headed over from Hakim Ziyech's cross minutes later.
After a drop in tempo and a minor flare up on the pitch, chances began to fall after 30 minutes as En-Nesyri squandered another opening by mistiming his header despite being unmarked in the box.
However, En-Nesyri would make amends for the earlier misses as he broke the deadlock for the Moroccans three minutes before the halftime break by nodding home Attiyat-Alla.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos waited six minutes into the second half to make the double change, as Ronaldo and Cancelo were introduced for Ruben Neves and Raphaël Guerreiro.
Portugal dominated the possession thereafter and they went close to bagging an equaliser in the 64th minute when Bernardo Silva teed up Bruno Fernandes, who saw his powerful strike sail inches over the crossbar.
With time running out, Portugal threw on more attacking reinforcements as Rafael Leao and Vitinha were thrown into the fray for the final 20 minutes of the half.
Portugal went agonisingly close to pulling level with eight minutes to go in the half, with Ronaldo teeing up Felix whose left-footed strike was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by Bounou.
Ronaldo nearly got his reward in the first minute of time added on, but Bounou produced another vital save to keep his nation in the lead.
Morocco finished the game with ten men after Walid Cheddira was given his marching orders for picking up a second yellow.
Pepe should have equalised in the latter stages after getting on the end of Rafael Leao's cross, but the defender headed wide as Morocco held on to book their spot in the semi-finals for the first time in their history.
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