It was raining goals as a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portugal came to the fore to thrash Switzerland 6-1 to convincingly march into the quarterfinals for the first time in 16 years at the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Coach Fernando Santos decided to bench CR7 and bring in Goncalo Ramos who later turned out to be the show's headliner in the round of 16 game.
Ramos began his exploit in the 17th minute and later after Pepe doubled the lead in the 33rd minute, the 21-year-old found the nets again in the 51st minute of the later half. This was immediately followed by Raphael Guerreiro who converted the lead to 4-0 4 minutes later.
Manuel Akanji fought for a losing cause and brought one back in the 58th minute. Ramos continued with his show as he smashed the final of his hat trick in the 67th minute, becoming the 2nd youngest man(21 years, 169 days), the first being Pele(17 year, 244 days), to score a hat trick at the FIFA World Cup's knockout stage.
Rafael Leao who came in the 87th minute, netted a final goal in the extra time to thump the Swiss side 6-1 and help his team to reach the quarters after 2006.