Cristiano Ronaldo scores fourth goal of tournament to sink Morocco

Cristiano Ronaldo’s quest for the Golden Boot stayed on course after his fourth-minute header helped Portugal grind out a 1-0 win over Morocco at the World Cup.

For the north African side it was Moscow or bust as they needed at least a point to keep their hopes of qualifying alive.

And they made the worst possible start as Ronaldo ghosted in early on to net a header for his 85th goal for his country.

But Morocco created the better chances as they dominated the midfield battle and nullified William Carvalho, Joao Mario, who was playing instead of Bruno Fernandes, and Bernardo Silva.

But they were let down by poor finishing and some good saves from Rui Patricio including a world class one-handed stop to keep out Younes Belhanda’s header.

Fernando Santos’s side continued to soak up the pressure in the latter stages, with some last-gasp defending to deal with a string of corners and free-kicks.

And they had a penalty shout in the dying minutes when Ronaldo went down after minimal contact from Nordin Amrabat which led to the Real Madrid man making the VAR signal himself.

Similar to their triumph at Euro 2016, the Portuguese grinded out another win to eliminate Morocco with the sort of performance that would have made compatriot Jose Mourinho smile.

They are not great to watch, were under the cosh for most of the game and their attacking players were on the periphery yet Portugal have four points from two games. Just like Euro 2016 when they progressed with draws against Austria and Hungary in the group stage, it's more of the same this time aroud. But Portugal did ride their luck with Morocco missing a hatful of chances in the box which more clinical teams would punish. Fernando Santos and his team may respond, if it ain't broke, dont fix it..

Nordin Amrabat: The Watford man was not expected to play after a nasty head injury against Iran. But he started the game wearing a protective skull cap, which he later threw off in the first half. He gave Raphael Guerrero a torrid time with his trickery, setting up a host of chances.

PORTUGAL: Patricio 8, Pepe 6, Raphael 4, Fonte 5, Cedric 5, Moutinho 5, Mario 4, Silva 5, Carvalho 4, Ronaldo 7, Guedes 5. Subs: Martins 5, Fernandes 5, A. Silva n/a.

MOROCCO: El Kajoui 5, Dirar 5, Benatia 6, Da Costa 7, Hakimi 5, Belhanda 6, El Ahmadi 6, Boussoufa 5, Ziyach 6, Boutaib 5, Amrabat 8. Subs: El Kaabi 6, Carcela-Gonzalez n/a, Fajr n/a.

5’ - GOAL FOR RONALDO! The corner from Silva is played short to Moutinho and the cross finds Ronaldo who heads it in from six yards out. Where was the marking?!

39’ - GOOD SAVE! Ronaldo lofts the ball into the box for Guedes whose shot is well parried by the keeper 57’ - but he really should have scored from there.

57' - WHAT A SAVE! Morocco have a free-kick on the right flank. Ziyach's delivery is headed into the bottom corner by Belhanda and Patricio gets one hand on it to put it over the bar!

60’ - WHAT A CHANCE! Morocco have another free-kick 40 yards out. Its lofted into the box, Benatia gets a touch, it falls to Belhands who lashes it over the bar.

90’+3 - BENATIA MISS! The ball is played into the box, it falls to Benatia who snatches at it and wallops it over the bar. Morocco have missed a hatful of opportunities.

Ronaldo has now scored more internationals goals than any European player in history with 85.

Portugal manager Fernando Santos has lost just one competitive game in 90 minutes in four years in charge - a 2-0 loss against Switzerland in qualifying.