Morocco becomes the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals with victory over Cristiano Ronaldos Portugal.
Youseff En-Nesyri’s header in the 42 minutes of the quarter-final game was the lone goal that eliminated Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream of winning the World Cup trophy in Qatar.
Morocco have surpassed the three other African sides to reach the quarter-finals — Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.
Portugal began the game brightly with a couple of first-half chances falling to Joao Felix. The forward put an early header straight at Bono and saw a deflected shot land on the top of the Morocco goalkeeper’s net before flashing over a first-time finish from the edge of the area when found in acres of space.
Meanwhile, Fernando Santos’ side were warned about En-Neysri’s threat in the air as he fired over a free header from a corner, while Selim Amallah and Sofiane Boufal went close in quick succession but both failed to find the target.
Eventually, Morocco’s resilience paid off three minutes before half-time as Portugal goalkeeper Costa came for Attiyat Allah’s long hanging ball from the left and collided with his own defender in Dias, leaving En-Neysri to nod home.
A frantic end to the first half saw Fernandes crash a dipping volley against the crossbar before seeing a penalty challenge waved away by referee Facundo Tello when put through on goal moments later.
Morocco started the second period strongly, with Hakim Ziyech testing the gloves of Costa from a free-kick – a major chance which prompted the introduction of Ronaldo on 51 minutes
But it was Goncalo Ramos who was on the receiving end of a major chance immediately after Ronaldo’s entrance, heading Otavio’s defence-opening cross wide from inside the box.
Bernardo Silva had two great opportunities in quick succession to level but curled over from the edge of the area before failing to connect in the box after a smart free-kick move.
Yet none of those chances compared to the three that fell Portugal’s way in the final 10 minutes. First, Felix’s rasping drive towards the top corner was tipped over by Bono – who had to be equal to Ronaldo’s low effort when the 37-year-old ran through one-on-one.
Morocco were close to finding a second when Zakaria Aboukhlal burst clear through but his clumsy chip was easily saved by Costa – yet Pepe had an even better chance at the other end as he headed wide from inside the six-yard box following Rafael Leao’s cross.
The full-time whistle sparked jubilant scenes from the Morocco players and their thousands of supporters in the stands – while Ronaldo immediately marched off the pitch in tears in what is likely to be his last World Cup appearance.
