Cristiano Ronaldo's stand-in Goncalo Ramos' hat-trick lifts Portugal at FIFA World Cup

AP

Lusail, December 7

In his first start for Portugal's national team, Goncalo Ramos showed that he has the goods — and the goals — to stand in for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Even at the World Cup, the 21-year-old forward scored a hat-trick on Tuesday after surprisingly being called on to start against Switzerland in place of Ronaldo, the men's record holder for most international goals.

Portugal won the match 6-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals for the third time.

“Not even in my wildest dreams did I think about being a part of the starting team for the knock-out stage,” Ramos said through a translator after being named player of the match.

Those three goals, and the smoking pistols goal celebration, instantly made Ramos one of the sport's hottest prospects.

Morocco, which will next play Portugal on Saturday for a spot in the semifinals, may not have known anything about Ramos before Tuesday. That has certainly changed.

Ramos had never played for Portugal before being selected in the World Cup squad last month. He was given the No. 26 shirt in the 26-man squad and played for only a few minutes as a late substitute in Portugal's group wins over Ghana and Uruguay. He had zero attempts on goal in those games.

“Most people in the world had never heard about him until today,” Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes said.

The first hint that Ronaldo's place might be at risk came on Monday. Portugal coach Fernando Santos vented his frustration with his long-time star's body language after being replaced in a 2-1 loss to South Korea on Friday.

Sure enough, 80 minutes before the start of the match at Lusail Stadium, Ronaldo's name was missing from the starting lineup. Ramos was his replacement.

The final result made Santos look more like a mad genius than a madman.

Ramos scored early, giving his team the lead in the 17th minute. Passes then started flowing, attacks came in waves and consumed the Swiss opposition.

Ramos was at the centre of it all.

The first hat-trick at this year's World Cup was only the fifth in the past three tournaments. One of those came from Ronaldo four years ago, when he was in a 3-3 group-stage draw with Spain.

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