Cristiano Ronaldo Fernando Santos Bruno Fernandes Ballon D International Qatar Switzerland Portugal Santos Nigeria World Cup 2022 soccer Sport Cristiano Ronaldo Fernando Santos Bruno Fernandes Ballon D International Qatar Switzerland Portugal Santos Nigeria

Portugal's Ramos dazzles with hat-trick against Switzerland

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Few fans had heard of Goncalo Ramos before Portugal's 6-1 demolition of Switzerland took them into the World Cup quarter-finals but after a hat-trick and an assist the striker made sure they will never forget him.In a brave and bold move that turned out to be a coaching masterstroke, Fernando Santos left five-time Ballon D'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench and gave the 21-year-old, nicknamed 'the Sorcerer', his first start, and the forward instantly lived up to his moniker.Ramos could not have hoped for a more magical night in Qatar, having made his international debut only three days before the World Cup started.But even in that game the Benfica youth product had issued a little-noticed warning, scoring once and setting up another goal in Portugal's 4-0 win over Nigeria in their last warm-up match on 17 November that again did not include Ronaldo.FULL MATCH DETAILSRamos had only featured for 10 minutes in total in Portugal's World Cup group matches but earned a surprise start when Santos opted to leave the country's all-time top scorer Ronaldo on the bench and take a risk with the youngster.The result was a far more fluid attack than in the previous games, with Joao Felix and Bruno Fernandes playing more freely than usual.We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.

Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences While for years every Portuguese attacking move was all but destined to end up with Ronaldo, now the frontline was far more unpredictable.It was just such a creative through ball from Felix that found Ramos, who never blinked as he thundered

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Goncalo Ramos was thrown into the eye of the storm, but it was Portugal's 21-year-old striker who brought the thunder, blasting his country into the World Cup quarter-finals.
DOHA : Portugal coach Fernando Santos put his faith in Goncalo Ramos when he started him against Switzerland, and the young striker responded by scoring a hat-trick and leading them to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2006.
Portugal’s forward #26 Goncalo Ramos celebrates after scoring his team’s fifth goal, his hat-trick, during the Qatar 2022 World Cup round of 16 football match between Portugal and Switzerland at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 6, 2022. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)

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