Portugal manager Fernando Santos made the brave decision to start Ramos instead of top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo and it paid off. Portugal will meet Morocco, who beat Spain 3-0 on penalties earlier on Tuesday, in their first quarter-final since 2006.
How it happened |Calendar and results
In his first World Cup start, Ramos put Portugal ahead with a scintillating 17th-minute strike, before his eldest member Pepe netted a powerful header in the 33rd minute to give them the lead. 2-0 at halftime.
Ramos scored his second goal in the 51st minute to extend the lead and Raphael Guerreiro soon made it 4-0 four minutes later. Switzerland responded with a goal Manuel Akanji in the 58th minute, but the lead was too much for them in the end. Ramos then completed his hat-trick with a 67th-minute strike, before substitute Rafael Leao wrapped up for Portugal with a stoppage-time goal.
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Ramos had only played 10 minutes as a substitute in Qatar but the youngster looked like he belonged on the big stage with a memorable performance for Portugal that didn’t miss Ronaldo – a late substitute who had a goal ruled out for offside.
Ramos opened the scoring in the 17th minute, catching Joao Felix’s incisive pass before blasting the ball from a tight angle into the top corner to put the Portuguese ahead.
Portugal doubled their lead through skipper Pepe when the 39-year-old timed his jump to perfection to rise above the two Swiss centre-backs and head home from a Bruno Fernandes corner in the 33rd minute , with Yann Sommer still well beaten.
The Swiss keeper did well to deny Ramos his second goal of the half with a fingertip save from a late counterattack as the Portuguese went in with a 2-0 halftime lead.
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But Sommer could do nothing when Diogo Dalot sent in a cross six minutes after the restart, with Ramos again in the right place at the near post to slip the ball between his legs to give Portugal a three-goal cushion.
The Portuguese piled up misery when they opened up the Swiss defense with another fluid counter-attack in which Ramos found Raphael Guerreiro in acres of space and the full-back fired the ball past Sommer to make it 4 -0 at the 55th.
Switzerland cushioned the blow just before the hour mark when defender Manuel Akanji crept unmarked at the far post from a corner to slip a shot home after Portugal failed to clear.
But a vibrant Portuguese attack roared as Ramos was tagged in on goal by Felix and just when it looked like he had lost the ball with a heavy touch, the striker chipped it off the pressed Sommer to complete a well-deserved hat-trick.
Substitute Rafael Leao then put the icing on the cake in second-half added time with a curling effort into the far corner as the stranded Sommer’s shoulders sunk in as he eyed the ball go past him in the back of the net.
(With agency contributions)
