World Cup 2018: 3 key battles that decided the game as Portugal beat Morocco

#2 Nordin Amrabat vs Raphael Guirrero

Amrabat was simply exceptional in attack, and was all over the Portugal defense

If it was Ziyech running things on the left, it was Amrabat on the right. It was uncertain he would be fit enough to play, and he came on in the first half with a protective head gear. But then the gear came off, and so did the brakes on his feet.

He spent the majority of the game in the Portugal half looking for a way in, and along with Ziyech ran the whole show. He played one-twos with El-Ahmadi, he took down long balls from Ziyech and he did everything but pull one back.

Like Soares, Guirrero is going to take a long time to get over this. He did get frustrated every now and then, but was sensible enough to do the fouls well and far away from the penalty box.

This should have been a proper training for Guirrero ahead of the important matches to come, even more harder than the ones he might face against the more fancied teams.

What matters is that he held out for the 90 minutes without doing anything too stupid, and Portugal can take away the feeling that their full-backs are at least cleverer than they are solid.