Sharjah24 - AFP: Goncalo Ramos scored a hat-trick on his complete debut as Portugal crushed Switzerland 6-1 on Tuesday to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals, providing evidence for the shocking decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 21-year-old Ramos, who started instead of Ronaldo, became the youngest player to strike three times in a World Cup knockout match since Pele in 1958.
Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro and Rafael Leao were also on target for a rampant Portugal, who booked a showdown with Morocco on Saturday for a place in the last four in Qatar.
"I think not even in my wildest dreams had I thought about being part of the starting XI for the knockout phase," said Ramos, who only made his Portugal debut in a pre-tournament friendly last month.
Switzerland, who had been hoping to reach a first quarter-final since hosting the 1954 World Cup, exited in the last 16 for the third time in a row.
"Defeat is painful. We are sad about how we played, about the result. We wanted to make our country happy but we didn't manage to achieve that," said Switzerland coach Murat Yakin.
Ronaldo, 37 and now without a club after his departure from Manchester United, has hogged the headlines during the tournament while looking a shadow of his former self.
The only man to score at five World Cups, Ronaldo was left out by coach Fernando Santos against the Swiss following his angry response to being substituted in the last group game.
Santos later said the decision to bench the Portugal star had been "strategic and nothing more", unrelated to his substitution against South Korea.
"I said that it was closed and it was closed," Santos said.
It was a bold call to omit a player with a record 118 international goals in favour of giving a first start to Ramos, the Benfica striker who had played just 33 minutes across three previous appearances.
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