🏆 Morocco stun the world as Ronaldo-less Portugal shine | OneFootball

What’s this? A rest day?

We’ve enjoyed 17 days of non-stop football but now, with the quarter-final line-up complete, we must find other ways of distracting ourselves.

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OK, what was your best moment from yesterday?

The scenes at the end of Morocco’s win over Spain were, to bring out an old cliche, what the World Cup are all about.

For the fist time in their history, Morocco reached the quarter-finals, and did it against their northerly neighbours in a tense encounter.

It was an incredibly gritty performance from Walid Regragui’s side, with the coach – who was only appointed in August – becoming the first African manager to get to the World Cup last eight.

He’s masterminded one of the great tournament campaigns, with Morocco looking like they could go all month without conceding.

What a win it was. Up next, it’s Portugal and from there, who knows.

Do you have a memorable photo?

Achraf Hakimi, who was born in Madrid and represented Spain at youth level, clearly had no split loyalties on Monday.

The Paris Saint-Germain defender has been one of the best right-backs around for near enough three years now.

And has brought that consistent class into the World Cup for Morocco.

He celebrated with his mum after netting the winning penalty.

All hail Gonçalo Ramos.

Brought into the Portugal side in place of Cristiano Ronaldo and reacted to that pressure by scoring the first hat-trick at this World Cup.

The Benfica striker was sensational all evening as his side took off the handbrake and beat Switzerland 6-1.

With those three goals the 21-year-old has gone to joint-fourth in Portugal’s all-time World Cup goalscorer charts – having played just 83 minutes of tournament football.

Got any interesting stats or facts?

If Portugal boss Fernando Santos was feeling any heat about dropping Cristiano Ronaldo before the game, his decision was vindicated within 17 minutes.

For that’s how long it took Ramos to better Ronaldo’s tally of World Cup knockout goals.

Poor old Spain.

If England think they might have a hex on penalty shoot-outs, that’s nothing compared to La Roja.

Luis Enrique’s side lost for the fourth time from the spot as Sergio Busquets’ feebly missed their final penalty.

And if I need a laugh, what happened that’ll tickle me?

The footballing gods were operating at Peak Schadenfreude on Monday as Portugal dropped Ronaldo, who then had to watch his replacement score a hat-trick.

So, I’m free today, what can I not afford to miss?

There may be no World Cup football to enjoy today but the Women’s Champions League continues its group stage this evening.

There’s a couple of really fascinating fixtures taking place with Arsenal hosting Juventus and Bayern Munich taking on Barcelona.

A win for the Gunners would all-but secure progression to the knockout stages whilst Bayern will be looking to bounce back after their 3-0 loss at Camp Nou last wek.

And lastly, have you got a player to watch?

With Barcelona sensation Alexia Putellas likely to be out for the remainder of the season, new signing Keira Walsh has been tasked with anchoring their midfield.

And since joining from Manchester City in the summer, she’s done a stellar job.

The 25-year-old has been one of the first names of the team sheet for the Blaugrana so far and will likely be at the heart of things again this evening against Bayern.