Portugal's Ramos dazzles with hat-trick against Switzerland

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.

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Ramos 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.

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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