MOSCOW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Cristiano Ronaldo said Wednesday that Portugal are not thinking beyond the next match against Iran despite all but securing their passage to the World Cup knockout stage.
The Real Madrid forward was named man of the match after scoring with an early header in Portugal's 1-0 victory over Morocco here.
The strike made Ronaldo Europe's all-time leading scorer in international matches with 85 goals, surpassing the previous mark held by Hungary legend Ferenc Puskas.
"I'm very happy. The most important thing was to win the game and get the three points," Ronaldo said in a brief news conference after the match.
The result left Portugal with four points from two matches, following their 3-3 draw against Spain on Friday. The European champions would need an unlikely sequence of results to miss a berth in the knockout stage and can finish top of their group with a convincing victory over Iran on Monday.
"The expectation is to continue our work to try to improve in the group phase," the former Manchester United player said. "We're almost there but we'll see. Our goal is to look at it match by match. We have to think that way to qualify."
Despite falling behind in the fourth minute, Morocco dominated large periods of the match and had 16 shots on goal compared to Portugal's 10.
"We knew that Morocco would be trying very hard. They created many chances but we managed to get the victory and that is what matters most," Ronaldo added.
