PORTUGAL stunned the world by dropping Cristiano Ronaldo for their Round of 16 clash with Switzerland…then shocked everyone again by showing how good they are without him.
And they will be most punters' picks when they face African shock troops Morocco in the quarter final on Saturday.
Fernando Santos' decision to drop the 37-year-old from his starting line-up for either tactical or disciplinary reasons depending on who you believe turned into a masterstroke after they utterly destroyed the previously-thought-of streetwise Swiss 6-1, with his replacement, Goncalo Ramos, becoming the first player in the World Cup to score a hat-trick.
But they will have to be at their attacking and creating best if they want to end the run of the Atlas Lions, who knocked out a Spanish side who had earlier crushed Costa Rica 7-0 by producing a defensive masterclass. before eventually prevailing on penalties.
Morocco frustrated the life out of an utterly clueless Spanish team who didn't appear to conclude that passing the ball from side to side hundreds of times for 120 minutes wasn't going to work.
The Moroccans will almost certainly try the same trick against the Portuguese and they produced one or two moments against Spain to show they are dangerous on the counter-attack too.
How the bookies view it
Portugal are odds-on favourites at 31/50, with Morocco 91/20 and the draw 41/20 all with Highbet.
Recent head to heads
The nations have twice met at the World Cup with Portugal winning four years ago in Russia and Morocco triumphing at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Players to watch
Youssef En-Nesyri netted what turned out to be the winning goal against Canada and the Sevilla striker has scored 27 goals in 47 appearances for his club over the past two years. He is 83/20 to score on Saturday.
All eyes will be on strike sensation Goncalo Ramos, with the 21-year-old Benfica hitman sure to keep his place after that incredible hat-trick. We've seen plenty of tournaments where the stars come to the fore late on and he will certainly be popular at 42/25 to score anytime with Highbet.
Anything else catch the eye?
Portugal can do what Spain, Croatia and Belgium couldn't and put Morocco to the sword by scoring to end their World Cup adventure.
The Moroccan defence has proved very difficult to break down, but you could easily pick faults on all those three teams' attacking prowess in this tournament. Portugal look like they have Plans A, B and C and even R for Ronaldo off the bench in their locker to unlock this defence.
Ronaldo's absence seemed to lift a weight off the back of their other stars in the team and with the magnificent Pepe at the back, they can win to nil at 153/100.
If and when they do break down the Moroccans – who in contrast to the Portuguese – must be exhausted after the effort of 120 minutes of defending against Spain, they may well pick them off again and backing Portugal at -1 on the handicap at 93/50 looks a good call too.
This World Cup match between Morocco and Portugal will be played on Dec 10, 2022 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Morocco vs Portugal prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
