Goncalo Ramos Scores Sensational Hat-Trick after Cristiano Ronaldo Axe to Reach Quarter-Finals
- last year
Santos replaced his stroppy old Galactico with 21-year-old Benfica striker Goncalo Ramos - then saw the inexperienced youngster bag a magnificent hat-trick to set up a World Cup quarter-final against Morocco.
Ramos - remember the name and crank up those Premier League transfer rumours - thundered an early opener, added a sharp second to kill off the game and added a saucy third for the first treble of this World Cup on his first international start.
With the five-time Ballon d’Or winner sacked by United and seemingly on his way to Saudi club Al-Nassr, it begged the question - ‘will we ever see him start an elite game of football again?’
Ronaldo, at his fifth World Cup, has never scored in the knock-out stage but his understudy did so within an extraordinary finish after just 17 minutes.
Portugal looked a far better side without their fading diva - just as United did when Ten Hag dropped him after a 4-0 mauling at Brentford in August.
And Santos clearly has a gem in Ramos, while Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix was also outstanding.
By the time Ronaldo arrived as a sub - to the shrillest cheer of the ni
At least Ronaldo didn’t refuse to come off the bench to see out the game, as he had done when United defeated Tottenham earlier this season, before those egotistical rantings to Morgan saw his contract torn up.
But Portugal are serious contenders to win the tournament at this stadium on Sunday week and will certainly be red-hot favourites to defeat the Moroccans this weekend.
Switzerland were supposed to be cussed, obdurate opponents but the Portuguese tore them to ticker tape.
An hour or so before kick-off came the resounding double shock - Morocco defeating Spain on penalties, just as it was announced that Santos had benched Ronaldo.
It was the first time he had not started a meaningful tournament game for Portugal since he was a teenager at Euro 2004.
But after he had thrown a strop when substituted in the final group game against South Korea, there had been widespread support back home for such a move and Ramos got the nod.
Ramos - remember the name and crank up those Premier League transfer rumours - thundered an early opener, added a sharp second to kill off the game and added a saucy third for the first treble of this World Cup on his first international start.
With the five-time Ballon d’Or winner sacked by United and seemingly on his way to Saudi club Al-Nassr, it begged the question - ‘will we ever see him start an elite game of football again?’
Ronaldo, at his fifth World Cup, has never scored in the knock-out stage but his understudy did so within an extraordinary finish after just 17 minutes.
Portugal looked a far better side without their fading diva - just as United did when Ten Hag dropped him after a 4-0 mauling at Brentford in August.
And Santos clearly has a gem in Ramos, while Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix was also outstanding.
By the time Ronaldo arrived as a sub - to the shrillest cheer of the ni
At least Ronaldo didn’t refuse to come off the bench to see out the game, as he had done when United defeated Tottenham earlier this season, before those egotistical rantings to Morgan saw his contract torn up.
But Portugal are serious contenders to win the tournament at this stadium on Sunday week and will certainly be red-hot favourites to defeat the Moroccans this weekend.
Switzerland were supposed to be cussed, obdurate opponents but the Portuguese tore them to ticker tape.
An hour or so before kick-off came the resounding double shock - Morocco defeating Spain on penalties, just as it was announced that Santos had benched Ronaldo.
It was the first time he had not started a meaningful tournament game for Portugal since he was a teenager at Euro 2004.
But after he had thrown a strop when substituted in the final group game against South Korea, there had been widespread support back home for such a move and Ramos got the nod.