LIVE UPDATES: Portugal vs Morocco

Good afternoon and a warm welcome to our coverage of the Group B game between Morocco and Portugal.

Ronaldo's brilliant hat-trick earned Portugal a point against Spain in the first game but Morocco have to bounce back from defeat to Iran in opening match.

Victory in today’s game is a must for both sides so we anticipate a very competitive play from both countries. For Portugal, a win today puts them in a good shape for qualification to the next round whilst Morocco must win today in order not to suffer the same fate as Egypt who virtually got kicked out yesterday.

Portuguese defender, Pepe has been speaking ahead of the game and he is full of praise for his Cristiano Ronaldo. Pepe is adamant Ronaldo will once again show up and inspire his side to victory over the Atlas Lions.

The most important thing for our team is for Cristiano Ronaldo to be well. He's very happy to be here with us and every match it's a privilege for us Portuguese to have a player such as him”.

Morocco coach Herve Renard is expecting Portugal to give his side a tougher game than they had against Iran.

He also admits it will be extremely difficult to prevent Ronaldo from getting his name on the scoresheet.

He said: "Even if you want to draw up plans for Ronaldo, he always finds a way out or makes a difference or puts his team back on the right track.

"He's absolutely exceptional. Perhaps that word isn't even strong enough but you have to do everything to stop him."

There are no new injuries in both camps and while we anticipate slight changes in the Moroccan starting team, we do not expect the Portugal coach to ring changes.