Portugal in quarters, Switzerland humiliated: dream night for Gonçalo Ramos

Qatar 2022, Portugal-Switzerland 6-1

Portugal overwhelms Switzerland with a 6-1 win without appeal and thus completes the picture regarding the quarterfinals of Qatar 2022, where it will meet Morocco, Spain’s executioner on penalties.

At Lusail Stadium, the choice of the Portuguese coach, Fernando Santos, who leaves Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench and deploys young Gonçalo Ramos from the 1′, is surprising. It was a more than apt choice, in retrospect, because it was precisely the 2001-born Benfica forward who put the Lusitanians ahead in the 17th minute, with a shot from inside the box that left Sommer with no chance.

In the 33rd minute came the double: it was signed by the veteran Pepe, with a powerful and precise header from Bruno Fernandes’ cross. Switzerland is totally out of the game and capitulates in the first minutes of the second half: Ramos makes it a double in the 51st minute, well served by Diogo Dalot, and four minutes later it is Raphael Guerreiro, unleashed by today’s substitute for CR7, who scores the 4-0 goal.

In the 58th minute, on the Portuguese’s only real defensive uncertainty, Manuel Akanji headed into the net for the Swiss, but in the 67th minute Gonçalo Ramos capped off a dream evening with the 5-1 goal that completely extinguished any doubts about the eventual winner of the challenge.

In the last 20 minutes there is space for Cristiano Ronaldo, welcomed on his entrance to the pitch – in place of Joao Felix – by the roar of the crowd in the stands: his goal would also arrive in the 84th minute, cancelled, however, due to obvious offside by CR7 himself. However, there is time for the sixth goal: to sign it is Milan’s Rafael Leao, with a splendid right-footed shot in the middle of the recovery.

At the triple whistle of Mexican referee Cesar Ramos, the Portuguese celebration can explode: there will be no Iberian derby in the quarters, but the challenge with Morocco still promises to be fascinating.