FIFA World Cup 2022: Goncalo Ramos hat-trick sends Portugal into QFs after 6-1 win over Switzerland

A hattrick by 21yearold Goncalo Ramos and strikes from Pepe Raphael Guerreiro and Rafael Leao helped Portugal advance to the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIFA World Cup as they thrashed Switzerland 61 at Lusail Qatar on WednesdayStarting off Portugal had their star striker Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench This comes after he was angry at being substituted during his sides previous match against South KoreaJoao Felix made the first attempt at attack from Portugals side passing to Bruno Fernandes at the edge of the Swiss box but the latter could not control the ballIn the fifth minute the Swiss forward Breel Embolo latched onto a headed pass and went past two defenders but his shot was deflected by PepeThe match started slow with only one shot at goal by the Swiss in the first 1314 minutesAlso ReadFIFA World Cup 2022 lsquoThis World Cup is my obsessionrsquoIn the 17th minute it was Portugal who got the early lead Goncalo Ramos the man who had replaced Ronaldo came through with a fiery nearpost drive which ended up finding the net despite the acuteness of the angle Ramos made good use of the pass received from Joao FelixIn the 25th minute there was some concern for Switzerland as defender Fabian Schar was down on the ground and received some treatmentEmbolo won a free kick for Switzerland in the 29th minute Shaqiri took the free kick and whipped a fine effort that went up and over the Portuguese wall looked to be heading onto the post but Portugal keeper Costa took no chances and collected the ballIn the 33rd minute Pepe doubled the lead for Portugal A brilliant header helped him score and become the oldest scorer at World Cup knockout stagesIn the 35th minute Felix was involved in another scoring opportunity for Portugal but fumbled itPortugal continued to dominate proceedings To make things worse the referee gave a yellow card to Swiss player Fabian Schar for a late foul on FelixFour additional minutes of stoppage time were added with neither side taking advantageAt halftime the scoreline read 20 in favour of Portugal who also dominated ball possession with 53 per cent as compared to the Swiss 47 per cent Portugal had six shots on target while Switzerland took fourAt the resumption of the match Portugal earned a corner in the 49th minute but Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez prevented the Portuguese from adding the thirdRamos continued his dream run in the match as in the 51st minute Diogo Dalot drilled the ball into the near post and Ramos fired it through Yann Sommers legs to make it 30 He scored a bracePepe and Felix made some more chances for Portugal but it was Raphael Guerreiro in the 56th minute who made full use of space left by Swiss rightback Fernandes to add another goal to Switzerlands piling miseriesIn the 55th minute Switzerland made two substitutes On came Zakaria and Seferovic for Sow and FreulerSwitzerland opened their account in the 58th minute with the help of Manuel Akanji who made the scoreline read 41 But there was clearly a lot left to be done In the 59th minute Switzerlands Eray Comert was booked for committing a foulThe most notable moment of the game came in the 67th minute when Ramos brilliant finish sent the ball past Sommer to not only make it 51 in favour of Portugal but also bring up his hattrick the very first in the 2022 edition of the tournamentIn the 72nd minute Portugal made three changes as Ronaldo Vitinha and Horta replaced hattrick hero Ramos Otavio and Felix Four minutes into his arrival Ronaldo took a free kick but missed an opportunity to scoreEmbolo attempted to score for the Swiss in the 80th minute but failedIn the 84th minute Ronaldo drove the ball past Sommer for a goal but out came the offside flag denying the star his moment in the gameTwo minutes into stoppage time Rafael Leao came through with a stunning curl over Sommers head to make it 61Portugal qualified for the quarterfinal with the scoreline reading 61 in their favour at fulltime Switzerland became more dominant in terms of ball possession in the second half ending with overall figures of around 52 per cent while Portugal took the rest of it Portugal took 14 shots at their target of which nine were on target The Swiss took 10 shots at goal out of which three were on targetThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever