Young Goncalo Ramos scored the first hat-trick of the FIFA World Cup 2022 to power a rampant Portugal into the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The 21-year-old striker helped Portugal demolish Switzerland 6-1 in their Round of 16 encounters at the Lusail stadium. Portugal coach Fernando Santos took a brave decision to start Ramos in place of their record goal-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo and it paid off handsomely for them. Portugal will meet Morocco, who beat Spain 3-0 on penalties earlier on Tuesday, in their first last-eight appearance since 2006. In his first World Cup start, Ramos put Portugal in the lead.
Portuguese coach Fernando Santosh took a bold decision to drop regular captain and superstar player Cristiano Ronaldo and keep young forward Gonzalo Ramos. Ramos proved the faith of the coach. He scored one goal in the first half and two goals in the second half. Ramos gave Portugal the lead in the 17th minute with a pass from Joao Felix.
The first hat-trick at #Qatar2022 goes to Goncalo Ramos! ⚽ ⚽ ⚽
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 6, 2022
Portugal booked a quarter-final spot in resounding fashion, but the @Budweiser Player of the Match says his team are taking it one game at a time 🙌
🇵🇹 #PORSUI🇨🇭 #POTM #YoursToTake #BringHomeTheBud pic.twitter.com/p1FxOEFKeL
Defender Pepe, who took over as captain when Ronaldo was on the bench, doubled Portugal’s lead in the 32nd minute by scoring from Bruno Fernandez’s corner. Portugal scored two goals in the first half and did not stop in the second half. In the 51st minute, Ramos scored a personal second goal through a pass from Diego Dalot, making Portugal’s lead 3-0. In the 55th minute, Rafael Guerreiro scored a pass from Ramos to increase Portugal’s lead to 4-0.
In the 58th minute, Switzerland’s Manuel Akanji reduced the goal gap by returning the goal. However, in the 71st minute, Ramos completed his hat-trick with a pass from Felix and widened Portugal’s lead. Rafe Liao scored a goal in injury time to give Portugal a 6-1 win.
Portugal will now compete against the African team Morocco in the quarterfinals. Morocco reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time after defeating 2010 winners Spain in a penalty shootout.