Cristiano Ronaldo at World Cup 2018: Whether it's the goatee or the glorious goals, all eyes are on the Portugal star

For Cristiano Ronaldo, this is how it should have been from the start. All eyes on him.

So tumultuous were Spain's preparations for the 3-3 draw with Portugal last week, there was barely a mention of Ronaldo in the pre-match hullabaloo - save for some unwelcome reports on his tax affairs.

Portugal's talisman found a way to make it about him, of course, scoring a spellbinding hat-trick in Sochi, and normal service had resumed ahead of the match with Morocco in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

All eyes on him.

Ronaldo arrived at the ground - a monstrous two-tiered sphere in the south of the city - sporting a new goatee beard. An innocent fashion choice or a visual prop in the ongoing, and somewhat binary, GOAT debate? Not sure, but Lionel Messi posed with goats in a pre-tournament photo call, so Ronaldo was entitled to his fun.

Whenever he is arriving at the stadium or arriving in the six-yard box, Ronaldo demands mass attention, which made Morocco's decision to ignore him in the fourth-minute all the more puzzling. Portugal played a corner short, Joao Moutinho crossed and Ronaldo slipped away to thump a diving header past the Moroccan goalkeeper.

It was his fourth goal of the tournament, which is still barely a week old, and his 85th for Portugal, making him the highest European goal-scorer in the history of international football. Why stop there? He's 33 but Ali Daei's record 109 international goals for Iran will surely be in his sights.

And Iran are up next for Portugal and Ronaldo in an intriguing battle with Carlos Quieroz - the Iran coach, who is a Portuguese national and was Ronaldo's mentor at Manchester United.

The World Cup Golden Boot is rarely decided in the group stage - Oleg Salenko, who scored five of his six goals in one match against Cameroon in 1994 and Miroslav Klose in 2006 are the only examples in the modern era-- but Ronaldo will want to extend his lead in the embryonic race for yet another personal accolade. Win the Golden Boot and that probably means another Ballon d'Or, too.

In the end, Ronaldo scored the winner and was named as man-of-the-match but he was far from the whole story of this frenetic encounter, which was dominated by the losers. There was so much to admire about Morocco, who are the first team to be officially eliminated from the tournament, and the North Africans might be the best ever team to not win a World Cup game or score a goal, given Spain are their next opponents.

Although Morocco had most of the ball and almost all of the chances, the moments belonged to Ronaldo again. The winning goal aside, his were the openings that made the Luzhniki crowd hold its breath, even if the Moroccan supporters somehow continued to whistle.

In those seconds before Ronaldo hit that free-kick against Spain, when the frenzied glint had entered his eye, the whole of Sochi's Olympic Stadium, where both Spain and Portugal fans were outnumbered by thrilled neutrals, stopped what they were doing to watch, willing it into the net, wanting to be a part of something special.

For all Morocco's excellence, for all their chances and for all their raucous fans chanting 'Messi, Messi, Messi' at the Portugal captain whenever possible, there was that same feeling when Ronaldo stood over a free-kick 20 yards from goal in 31st-minute or again in a similar position six minutes from time.

Or when he seemed to take an age to approach a rolling ball on the edge of the box just after half-time.

It was impossible not to will Ronaldo to score again, to will him to continue his quest for personal greatness, even at the expense of such an admirable opponent.

Both free-kicks hit the wall and he blazed the other chance high, but it was still all about him in the end. Even so, everyone - perhaps even the Moroccans, when they look back - felt part of it again.

All eyes on him.