Portugal vs Morocco: Squad News & Preview

Cristiano Ronaldo was the hero for Portugal in their opening game by scoring his first ever World Cup hat-trick in the 3-3 draw against Spain.

The Real Madrid forward will be aiming to add to his goal tally against a Morocco side that created plenty of chances against Iran in their first game, only to concede late on to lose by a 1-0 scoreline.

Despite his hat-trick, Ronaldo felt some discomfort during the game with Spain. However the 33-year-old has been training with his team-mates and there should be no reason for him to missing from the starting eleven.

Morocco, for their part, will be without winger Nordin Amrabat, who had to go off with concussion against Iran.
Preview

This should be a different kind of game for Fernando Santos' side from their opening encounter.

Against Spain the Portuguese ceded possession to La Roja and looked dangerous on the counter attack, whereas against Morocco we can expect Portugal to have the ball.

The European champions have lost just one competitive game in four years and they proved against Spain that they are a difficult side to overcome.

Morocco are no pushovers, though, and boast a young and talented team who deserved much more against Iran, and this could be one of the few games so far at the tournament that ends up being relatively open.