Qatar: Cristiano Ronaldo’s replace Goncalo Ramos shone with a Hat-trick for his country after an overwhelming performance where the Portuguese send home the Swiss 6-1. In the game, Portugal coach Fernando Santos benched captain and all-time leading scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, with veteran defender Pepe taking the captain’s armband.
However, the 21-year-old Gonçalo Ramos, scored Hat -trick for Portugal. No one has before scored three goals in the World Cup’s knockout round since Tomas Skuhravy of Czechoslovakia scored a Hat-trick against Costa Rica in 1990.
Ramos said Santos’s decision to leave Ronaldo out of the lineup was not a topic of discussion among the players before the match, adding that Ronaldo supports his teammates.
In the 17th minute, Ramos fired his 1st goal. Then Pepe rose for a powerful header of a corner kick in the 33rd minute. Portugal cruised to the quarter-final first time since 2006. Morocco will be its opponent in the next game.
Until Manuel Akanji put an end to Portugal’s four-goal surge with a straightforward finish in the 58th minute, the Swiss hadn’t scored in the knockout round since that match against Austria in the quarterfinal in 1954.
Ramos’ outstanding opening goal from a tight angle started the rout. Yann Sommer, the Swiss goalie, didn’t react quickly enough to block that blistering strike. In the 60th minute, Ronaldo stepped to the ground and the crowd went chanting his name. Ronaldo appeared to score on a partial breakaway in the 84th minute, but was disallowed as he was well offside.