Cristiano Ronaldo is benched. Cristiano Ronaldo will not start a game for Portugal in the major tournaments for the first time since 2008, ending a sequence of 31 games. Is this the end of Ronaldo in the national team? The football world was fired up about two hours before the quarterfinal match between Portugal and Switzerland, when the news broke that coach Fernando Santos decided to bench his captain. But by the end of the game, the Portuguese legend was no more in the headlines. His replacement and a triple time scorer Goncalo Ramos took over the news with an excellent display and three goals in a 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland.Gonçalo Ramos has only played 85 minutes of World Cup football. 😮 pic.twitter.com/C8jlj20eV6— Squawka (@Squawka) December 6, 2022 The Portuguese just looked a lot, lot better without Cristiano Ronaldo in the team, which is another sad, but true statement. Portugal never gave Switzerland a chance to do anything apart from conceding 5 goals, as the Santos’ men played fast, attractive, simple and most important – collective football which created five goals and a lot more chances. Switzerland can be happy that their keeper Yan Sommer was back in the squad, as he saved them from a disaster.And what about a triple scorer Ramos? The Benfica forward was not such a big star as Darwin Nunez, and was subject of interest from Newcastle in this transfer window but stayed in the club and first exploded in the club and then at the World Cup. Before this match, Ramos played only 12 minutes in Qatar: 3 against Ghana, 9 against Uruguay and he didn’t feature against South Korea. And then Santos unleashed him against tonight and he blossomed. He will be the happiest man alive tonight, as well as Benfica executives. They will earn a lot on his transfer in June 2023 (or even in January).39 – Portugal defender Pepe is now the oldest ever player to score in a knockout stage game at the #FIFAWorldCup (39 years & 283 days old). Appetite. pic.twitter.com/jHpufdLLIF— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 6, 2022 Portugal started the game aggressively and their first goal came in after only 17 minutes. It was a master piece of Goncalo Ramos, who slammed the ball underneath the bar from a narrow angle and caught Sommer off guard. In truth, it was such a precise goal, nobody could defend that. Before the second goal, Switzerland had a good efford, but Shaqiri’s shot was saved by Costa and that was it from Xhaka and co. Veteran Pepe (39) scored the second goal and became the oldest World Cup finals scorer ahead of the great Roger Milla.Ramos scored his second goal at the beginning of the second half before Dortmund’s Guerreiro made it 4-0 minutes later. His teammate from Borussia Akanji scored a consolation goal for Switzerland before Ramos made it 5-1 20 minutes from the final whistle. And what about Ronaldo? He was introduced in the 73rd minute instead of Ramos, missed one free kick (as expected), had one chance and finished the game without a goal. But the other substitute, Rafael Leao, scored in injury time for the final 6-1. Portugal will face World Cup’s surprise team Morocco in the quarterfinals, on Saturday 12th of December, at 18h.QATAR 2022 WORLD CUP ROUND OF 16TuesdayMorocco – Spain 0-0 (3-0 pen.)Portugal – Switzerland 6-1 (3-0)/Ramos17,51,67, Pepe 33, Guerreiro 55, Leao 90+2 – Akanji 58/
