In one of the most dominant performances of the ongoing FIFA 2022 World Cup, Portugal scored a thumping victory over Switzerland in their Round of 16 match to advance into the quarter finals. Goncalo Ramos became the only player in FIFA 2022 to score three goals in a single night as Portugal defeated the Swiss army by a margin of 6-1 at the Lusail Stadium.
Ramos filled in as the replacement for the captain and one of the best, Cristiano Ronaldo, and scored a hat-trick for his team, scoring the opening goal in the 17th minute and adding others in the 51st and 67th minutes. Ronaldo did get to be a part of the team as he entered as a substitute in the 72nd minute to the loudest of ovations with the crowd chanting “Ronaldo! Ronaldo!”, to welcome one of the all time greats onto the field. By then, the game was already in Portugal’s favor.
The match was a completely one-sided affair all throughout! The opening goal was scored by Ramos in the 17th minute, which was followed by the second Portuguese goal by Pepe in the 33rd minute. The added stoppage time could not produce anything extra as the first half ended with Portugal leading 2-0.
Just 6 minutes into the second half, Ramos scored his second goal at 51 minutes, which was immediately followed by the fourth Portuguese goal by Raphael in the 55th minute. Switzerland did eventually manage to breakthrough after that as Manuel Akanji managed to finally score the first Swiss goal of the match at 57 minutes, sowing some hopes of a fight back.
However, Ramos made sure that wouldn’t happen as he added to the Swiss dismay by scoring his third goal of the night and the fifth goal for his team in the 67th minute, giving Portugal a healthy 5-1 lead over Switzerland. This goal made him the first player to score a hat-trick in the knock-out stages of the World Cup since 1990. Indeed a huge feat for the youngster, which no one in the last two decades has been able to achieve!
In the final moments of the regulation time, Portugal was just messing around with the Swiss players, delighted with their performance tonight, but that wasn’t it. With just 4 minutes added as extra time, Rafael Leao came out with the sixth goal for Portugal in the 91st minute. The opportunity came when Portugal had a goal kick. After a few seconds of play within the Portuguese half, Leao cut a shot back inside the right flank and then fired the ball into the nets. As he scored with a wonderful finish, the referee soon called the whistle, giving Portugal a decisive 6-1 victory, sending them straight to the quarter finals to face-off against Morocco.
In the end, even though Ronaldo walked into the match with only 18 minutes left to play, Portugal had no regrets over resting as his replacement Goncalo Ramos gave a splendid performance scoring a hat-trick in a superb 6-1 win over Switzerland, putting the remaining teams on notice. Pepe, Raphael, and Leao also chipped in as this match clearly proved that Portugal is not entirely dependent on Ronaldo to win matches. It was a team performance tonight for Portugal!
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