FIFA World Cup 2022: Stats and Facts as Morocco and Portugal qualify for quarterfinals

Morocco stunned Spain while Portugal cruised past Switzerland in the two World Cup 2022 knockout fixtures on Tuesday.

A fantastic Morocco team won in the penalty shoot-out to send Spain home, and in the late-night match, it was Portugal who played their best game of the tournament as they demolished Switzerland 6-1.

Morocco and Portugal will meet each other in the quarterfinals on December 10. Here we focus on some stats and facts from both games-

Morocco vs Spain:

• Spain lost 3-0 in the penalty shootout against Morocco. It was their 4th loss in the tiebreakers and they are the team with the most losses in the tiebreakers.
• Spain became the second team in WC history to not score a goal in a penalty shootout. Switzerland are the only team except them to have suffered the same fate (against Ukraine, 2006).
• Morocco became the 4th African team to reach the quarterfinals. Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) are the others.
• Morocco boss Walid Regragui is the first ever African manager to lead his team in the quarterfinals of the biggest stage of World Football.

Portugal vs Switzerland:

• Portugal boss Fernando Santos benched Cristiano Ronaldo for the match. This is the first time Ronaldo didn't for Portugal at a major tournament since 2008. It was the 2008 Euros against Switzerland when the last time the talismanic forward wasn't in the starting lineup for his nation.
• Goncalo Ramos scored his debut goal for Portugal and marked his first-ever international start with a hattrick. He is the second player to score a hattrick on his first WC start, only after Miroslav Klose.

• Portugal defender Pepe became the oldest player to score in a WC knockout match at the age of 39 years and 283 days.
• Bruno Fernandes ranks 3rd among Portuguese players in goal involvements in a single WC edition. He has 5 goal involvements in this World Cup, with 2 goals and 3 assists. Only Eusebio (10) and Jose Torres (6) are ahead of him.
• Portugal also advanced to the quarterfinals stage for the first time since 2006.

(with input from Opta stats)