World Cup 2018: 3 key battles that decided Portugal versus Spain

#3 Isco vs Bernardo Silva

Isco danced his way around the Portuguese players and was the driver of most Spanish attacks

In the battle of the play-makers, it was not much of a difference as both Silva and Isco had solid games under their belt. But Isco was much more of a danger than Silva, who was more focused on finding Ronaldo (not that it is a bad tactic to employ).

Isco came close to scoring in the first half, when his thunderous shot hit the cross bar and bounced on the line, but VAR showed that it did not fully cross the line, and therefore not a goal.

Isco might not have gotten on to the score sheet, but he was certainly the best player on the pitch until Ronaldo turned up the magic with his third goal.

Bernardo Silva was also handicapped by the presence of Guedes up front, instead of someone like Andre Silva who shows the tendency to make runs into the box.

For a creative midfielder, this is one of the prerequisites, and we will certainly see his genius in the other matches of the group.

Isco vs Bernardo Silva - stats