Portugal faced Switzerland in the Round of 16 tie on Tuesday night as star forward Cristiano Ronaldo was left out on the bench by coach Fernando Santos. However, the tactics have served the Portuguese side as Ronaldo’s replacement Goncalo Ramos scored the opener against Switzerland to help his side lead the game before the half time.
Portugal have claimed the top spot in their group with six points in three matches while Switzerland managed the second spot in the Group G. Both the teams have played each other 10 times in the World Cups as Portugal dominate the head-to-head fixtures by five wins while the Swiss won thrice as two games ended in draws.
During the 17th minute into the game, Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos scored a perfect strike from Joao Felix’s pass in the box to help his side lead the Round of 16 fixture against Switzerland in the first half.
Watch the goal:
A few minutes later, Portugal captain Pepe scored from the head to take Portugal’s lead to two goals over Switzerland. The 39-year-old defender scored a header in the 33rd minute from Bruno Fernandes’ cross to become the second oldest goal scorer in the World Cup.
In the second half, Portugal scored two goals in the space of five minutes as Goncalo Ramos scored again from Diogo Dalot’s low cross while Ramos produced an assist to Raphael Guerreiro for the fourth goal. Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji responded with a goal in the 58th minute as Portugal running towards the victory.
Watch Ramos completes hattrick:
Later, Ramos completed his hattrick to become the youngest hattrick scorer in the FIFA World Cup history since Pele also this was the Portuguese forward’s first start for his country.
AC Milan forward Raphael Leao stabbed a dagger in Swiss’ hearts with his injury time goal before the full time from the edge of the box.
