Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot can hold their heads high despite their country being knocked out of the World Cup by Morocco this afternoon.
One of the surprises of the tournament was the triumph of the Africans 1-0 after parking the bus for a good part of the second half.
Fernandes was at the center of all the creativity that the European side had to offer, hitting the crossbar with a daring attempt late in the first half that would have tied his team.
United had two shots, made 87% accurate passes, 3 key passes, 8/11 long balls and 2/11 crosses.
Dalot also had a stable game. Although he wasn’t accurate on any of his four crosses, he won 5/7 of his duels, made a key pass and had a 76% completion rate. It is to be hoped for the good of United that the injury that caused him to be dropped was not serious.
As for the players linked to United, the goalkeeper Diogo Costa was to blame for Morocco’s goal, when a cross arrived that he had no chance of receiving and that allowed El Nesyri to finish off with a header on an empty goal.
It was almost the only action the Portugal keeper saw and, in truth, it could have a profound effect on his future, as his value had been steadily rising before such a high-profile mistake in such an important game.
Whether it will remain on United’s shopping list remains to be seen.
The hero of Portugal’s round of 16 hat-trick, Gonçalo Ramos, who has also been linked with a United play, failed to impress either, failing to get a single shot inside or outside the first half, and only one sadly off track. in the second before being substituted in the 69th minute.
Cristiano Ronaldo replaced him, but he did not know how to give the magic touch and left the pitch in tears.
It is more than likely the last time we will see Ronaldo at a World Cup and it was not the ending that anyone would have wanted or expected for the great man.
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