Portugal thrash Switzerland 6-1 with Ramos’s hattrick

Portugal thrashed Switzerland 6-1 to progress to the quarter-finals of the FIFA 2022 World Cup.

Goncalo Ramos starting in his first World Cup match in Qatar scored a hattrick to announce himself on the big stage.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos dropped Cristiano Ronaldo to the bench with Ramos replacing him. Santos expressed his disapproval at gestures made by Ronaldo when he was substituted against South Korea. It ended a run of 31 games Ronaldo had started for Portugal at major tournaments.

Ramos scored his first of three in the 17^th minute when he shot past Swiss keeper Jan Sommer at the near post.

Pepe doubled Portugal’s lead in the 33^rd minute with a powerful header from a Bruno Fernandez corner kick.

Ramos scored his 2^nd of the night in the 51^st minute from an assist by Diogo Dalot. He didn’t stop there as he assisted Raphael Guerrero in the 55^th minute for Portugal’s third.

Manuel Akanji pulled one back for Switzerland in the 58^th minute to give Switzerland a glimmer of hope.

Unfortunately, Ramos quenched that hope when he scored his 3^rd in the 67^th minute.

He delicately chipped the ball over Sommer to justify his manager’s faith.

Ronaldo was introduced from the bench with Portugal leading 5-1. He had the ball in the net but was ruled out for offside. Another substitute Rafael Leao was the one that stole the with Portugal’s sixth. He curled in a beauty in add-on time to ice the cake.

READ ALSO: Morocco dump Spain out of World Cup

Portugal will now play Morocco who beat Spain in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals.

Quarter Final Fixtures

Friday, 9th December 2022

Croatia v Brazil

Netherlands v Argentina

Saturday, 10th December 2022

Morocco v Portugal

England v France