Portugal boss Fernando Santos made a very bold call by benching Cristiano Ronaldo for 21-year-old Goncalo Ramos and was fully rewarded when the young lad scored a hat-trick in a dominant performance over Switzerland.

Gonçalo Ramos gave Portugal the lead in the 17th minute as he fired an unexpected shot into the roof of the net.

Pepe headed Bruno Fernandes corner into the box to make it 2-0 with the defender, 39, now the oldest scoring player in the knockout stages of the World Cup, surpassing Roger Miller.

The Benfica striker Gonçalo Ramos could’ve scored a brace before halftime but his effort was saved by Sommer in goal for the Swiss.

Six minutes after the break, Manchester United right back Diogo Dalot drove into the box before setting up Gonçalo Ramos for his second goal of the night.

Three soon became four when a beautiful play from Portugal freed up Dortmund’s Raphael Guerrero in the box to smash it home.

Manuel Akanji then scored a goal for Switzerland in the hope that a comeback may be possible with their manager already substituting on attackers like Seferovic. Akanji was unmarked within 3 yards from the net and didn’t miss when the corner was played through to him.

Gonçalo Ramos scored once again to secure his hat-trick and quench any Switzerland hope of fighting back with the match now 5-1. It is the first hat-trick of the tournament.

Ronaldo was introduced with 15 minutes to go, and had the ball in the back of the net less than ten minutes later, but unfortunately for him he was a long way offside.

Current Seria A best player Rafael Leao rounded up the night for the Portuguese team with a beautiful goal to make it 6-1 when he cut inside his defender and shot from distance.

Portugal will now face the last African team standing, Morocco in the quarter-final.

Advertisement