NO Cristiano Ronaldo? No problem, as his 21-year-old replacement Goncalo Ramos scored a hat-trick in Portugal’s 6-1 World Cup knockout win over Switzerland.
The 819 career-goal man, 37, was dropped for Portugal’s World Cup round of 16 tie against the Swiss after enduring a torrid group stage campaign.
Ronaldo netted just one goal, and it came from the penalty spot in the 3-2 win over Ghana.
He then tried to claim Bruno Fernandes’ opener in the 2-0 win over Uruguay.
And in Portugal’s final group game, Ronaldo played a part in South Korea’s equaliser, turning his back while defending a corner, which then fell to Kim Young-gwon.
Ronaldo was pulled off early in the second half and replaced by Andre Silva, which saw the five-time Ballon d’Or winner start to sulk – resulting in Euro 2016-winning boss Fernando Santos dropping him.
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He was replaced by Benfica ace Ramos and it took the young forward just 17 minutes into the game to find the back of the net in his first World Cup start.
Ramos was found by Joao Felix and he managed to sneak a powerful effort in at Switzerland’s near post.
Ronaldo did make sure to run to the corner flag to celebrate with Ramos and Co, though.
And to rub salt into the wounds further, Ramos has now scored a World Cup knockout goal BEFORE five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo.
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Ronaldo hasn’t managed to find the back of the net in 514 minutes of World Cup knockout football.
Veteran Pepe, 39, took up the captain’s armband and also got on the scoresheet in Ronaldo’s absence to send Portugal in at half-time with a two-goal lead.
Portugal came out for the second half swinging for the fences and Ramos got his second of the night and Raphael Guerreiro added a fourth before Manuel Akanji pulled one back for Switzerland.
Ramos then completed his hat-trick with a clever dink into the back of the net and was replaced by Ronaldo in the 72nd minute.
Rafael Leao then pushed Ronaldo further down the pecking order, scoring Portugal’s sixth in added-time.
A quarter-final date with Morocco awaits.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
