In the Round of 16 match played against Switzerland, the Portuguese team, the main player, Ronaldo did not play, but with the hat trick of young striker Goncalves Ramos (6-1), they advanced to the quarter-finals.
It was the right decision for Portugal coach Fernando Santos to surprisingly leave out Ronaldo in the starting lineup for the upcoming match against Switzerland and to trust the 21-year-old Benfica forward Goncalves Ramos.
Before the World Cup, Goncalves Ramos made his debut for the selected team in a friendly match against Nigeria on November 17th, and scored on his debut.
Group matches such as Ghana, Goncarlo Ramos had to play until the end of the game against Uruguay, but now he was allowed to play against Switzerland and scored a hat trick.
In the 17th minute of the first half, Goncalves scored with a strong left-footed kick from Yaofilis, and in the 51st minute, Goncalves scored after a break from the right side in front of Dalot’s goal.
The goal that would be a hat-trick was given by Yao Philip in the 67th minute, but Goncalves Ramos narrowly beat the goalkeeper Zimmer and ended it.
With this hat-trick, Goncalves became the first player to score a hat-trick in the current World Cup and the first player to score a hat-trick in his World Cup debut since Germany’s legendary striker Klose (2002).
Portugal’s famous player, Ronaldo, has played more than 500 minutes in the knockout stages of his 5 World Cups and has yet to score a goal, but now Goncalves Ramos has scored a hat trick in just 17 minutes to start scoring in the knockout stages.