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Morocco v Portugal LIVE: Atlas Lions look to stun Ronaldo in World Cup quarters

talksport.com, 7 December 2022, 11:22
World Cup underdogs Morocco are set to take on Portugal in the quarter-finals.

Morocco have been superb at the World Cup so far, topping Group F ahead of Croatia and Belgium before stunning Spain in the Round of 16.

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Following a goalless draw, the Atlas Lions won on penalties after Spain missed all of their spot-kicks.

The reward for Walid Regragui's men is a last-eight tie against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal.

A Selecao smashed Switzerland 6-1 in the last round as Goncalo Ramos stole the show by scoring a hat-trick after starting ahead of Ronaldo.

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These two last met in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup as Ronaldo fired home early on to secure a 1-0 win for Portugal.

Morocco v Portugal: talkSPORT coverage

This quarter-final clash will take place on Saturday, December 10.

The game at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha will kick-off at 3pm.

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talkSPORT will have live coverage with Hugh Woozencroft on presenting duties before commentary from Nigel Adderley and former England striker Dean Ashton.

Morocco v Portugal: Squads and team news

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Morocco

Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou, Munir Mohamedi, Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti

Defenders: Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui, Roman Saiss, Nayef Aguerd, Badr Benoun, Jawad El Yamiq, Achraf Dari, Yahia Attiyat Allah

Midfielders: Sofyan Amrabat, Amine Harit, Azzedine Ounahi, Ilias Chair, Selim Amallah, Yahya Jabrane, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Bilal El Khannous

Forwards: Hakim Ziyech, Youssef En-Nesyri, Abderrazak Hamdallah, Abde Ezzalzouli, Sofiane Boufal, Zakaria Aboukhlal, Walid Cheddira

Portugal

Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa, Rui Patricio, Jose Sa

Defenders: Joao Cancelo, Diogo Dalot, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Danilo Pereira, Antonio Silva, Nuno Mendes, Raphael Guerreiro

Midfielders: William Carvalho, Ruben Neves, Palhinha, Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Otavio, Matheus Nunes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Mario

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix, Rafael Leao, Ricardo Horta, Andre Silva, Goncalo Ramos

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Morocco v Portugal: What has been said?

Morocco coach Walid Regragui: "We showed to the world that every Moroccan is Moroccan, when he comes with the national team he wants to die, wants to fight.

"I was born in France but nobody can take my heart from my country. My players give 100 per cent. Some players born in Germany, some in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, France and every country has a football culture. You make this milkshake with that and get to the quarter-finals.

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"Big congratulations to the players, they did something extraordinary, in the frenzy of energy, in the desire not to let go of this match.

"Since the start of the competition, we've been playing with a team that's not 100 percent, that's why it's even more extraordinary.

"We've managed to create a family, and we feel that we have a people behind us.

"If you had told me before starting that we would face Croatia, Belgium and Spain without losing a match, I would have signed for it."

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Morocco v Portugal: Match facts

Against Switzerland last time out, Portugal's Gonçalo Ramos became the first player to score a hat-trick on his first World Cup start since Miroslav Klose in 2002. Ramos has scored three goals in 74 minutes played in the knockout stages of the World Cup, while Cristiano Ronaldo is still looking for his first goal in the knockout stages of the competition (531 minutes played).

Hakim Ziyech has either scored (1) or assisted (1) half of Morocco's goals at the 2022 World Cup (2/4). Indeed, he has been directly involved in a third of all Morocco shots in the current tournament (10/30), leading the team in both shots (6) and chances created (4).

Bruno Fernandes has been directly involved in more goals (5) than any other Portugal player at the 2022 World Cup. In addition to his two goals scored, Fernandes' three assists are the joint-most of any Portuguese player in a single World Cup tournament, along with António Simões and José Torres from 1966 and Luís Figo from 2006.

Morocco have kept three clean sheets in four games at the 2022 World Cup; the most ever by an African side in a single edition of the tournament. Overall, Nigeria (7) are the only African team who have kept more clean sheets than Morocco (6) in World Cup history.

Portugal have scored 12 goals in four games at the 2022 World Cup, only netting more in a single tournament back in 1966 (17). Their 12 goals have been netted by eight different players, which is the most different goalscorers they have ever had in a World Cup tournament.

Morocco come into this match on a five-game unbeaten run at the World Cup (W2 D3); their longest ever streak without defeat in the competition. Four of these games have come under Walid Regragui (W2 D2), who will become the first African manager to take charge of a World Cup quarter-final in this match.

This will be Portugal's third quarter-final at the World Cup, while they've progressed in each of the previous two - 5-3 v DPR Korea in 1966 and 3-1 in a penalty shootout v England in 2006. Portugal scored as many goals in their last game v Switzerland (6) as they had in their previous eight matches in the World Cup knockout stages combined.

Morocco are looking to become the first African team to qualify for the semi-final of a World Cup tournament. Indeed, each of the previous three African sides to reach a quarter-final were all eliminated at this stage: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.

There have been 11 previous games in the knockout stages of the World Cup between African and European teams, with nine of those being won by the European side. The two exceptions are Senegal's 2-1 extra time victory over Sweden in 2002 (round of 16) and Morocco's penalty shootout victory over Spain in the previous round this year.

This will be the third ever meeting between Morocco and Portugal, with the previous two both coming at the World Cup. Morocco won the first in a group stage clash in 1986 (3-1), before Portugal won 1-0 in the 2018 tournament where they also shared a group.

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