Portugal again left captain Cristiano Ronaldo out of the starting line-up, leaving hat-trick hero Goncalo Ramos in the squad for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Morocco.
Ronaldo, Portugal’s all-time leading goalscorer with 118 goals in 195 appearances, sat on the bench for Tuesday’s 6-1 win over Switzerland in the last 16, where 21-year-old Ramos scored three in just his fourth appearance.
Ronaldo, 37, was angry at being left out by coach Fernando Santos on the eve of the match, and the Portuguese Football Federation then had to deny reports that their skipper had threatened to leave the tournament. Santos made one change after that convincing victory on Saturday, with Ruben Neves replacing William Carvalho, while his Moroccan counterpart Walid Regragui had to shake up his defense after Nayef Aguerd and Noussair Mazraoui were ruled out with injury.
The absence of both is a major blow, with Yahia Attiat Allah at left-back for Mazraoui and Jawad El Yamiq replacing Aguerd. There were also concerns about the fitness of captain Romain Saiss and midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, but both will play.
teams: Morocco: Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Romain Saiss, Jawad El Yamiq, Yahya Attiat-Allah, Sofyan Amrabat, Selim Amallah, Azzedine Ounahi, Hakim Ziyech, Soufiane Boufal, Youssef En-Nesyri
Portugal: Diogo Costa, Diogo Dalot, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro, Bruno Fernandes, Otavio, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Neves, Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos