Young Goncalo Ramos has delivered a strong message to Cristiano Ronaldo that perhaps he should start thinking about retirement after the World Cup in Qatar.
The 21-year-old Benfica FC star, who registered his name in Fifa World Cup folklore, had replaced Ronaldo, one of the greatest players of all time, in the Portugal starting line-up when they ripped Switzerland to pieces on Tuesday night. Portugal won the match 6-1.
A rat-a-tat hat-trick meant that Ramos has scored more World Cup knockout stage goals in one game than Ronaldo scored in five tournaments.
Ronaldo just stood there in awe and marvelled at the young lad’s swashbuckling performance – no one will ever be bigger than our beautiful game. At least he did not sulk, he was happy for Ramos dismantling the hapless Swiss, in fact Ramos received the match ball and praise from Ronaldo.
Fifa.com reported: “Goncalo Ramos woke up this morning relatively unknown outside his home country. The 21-year-old will rest his head on the pillow tonight after writing his name in Fifa World Cup folklore.
“Benfica player Ramos was the surprise pick of coach Fernando Santos, chosen ahead of the man at his fifth World Cup, the incomparable Cristiano Ronaldo.
“What big boots to fill and by the end of the game Ramos would have needed a shoehorn to squeeze himself in. Portugal were irresistible, vastly improved on a pair of steady group-stage victories over Ghana and Uruguay, and it was Ramos who started the party after 17 minutes.
“Joao Felix progressed into the box unchallenged, eventually feeding Ramos, granted freedom to turn by Fabian Schar, who was soon regretting his hesitation. Ramos unleashed a corkscrew shot that flew past Yann Sommer at the near post. It was not dissimilar from Ryan Giggs’ FA Cup semi-final strike beyond David Seaman in 1999.”
Key moment: This occurred out of public view when Santos made up his mind to leave out Ronaldo and grant a first international start to Ramos. Imagine the headlines if a richly talented Portugal team that draws its performers from some of Europe’s finest teams had bowed out, with superstar Ronaldo and his 20 World Cup starts and eight goals watching impotently from the bench.
This was in equal parts a gamble from the erudite Santos and evidence of why he is trusted to make the big calls in charge of Portugal. The 68-year-old has been at the helm since 2014 and won the nation’s first major tournament at UEFA EURO 2016. He oversaw more success in the 2019 UEFA Nations League.
Santos has earned the right to go with his gut, then, and the coach patently liked what he saw in a trio of substitute appearances from Ramos, who made a scoring debut off the bench in a pre-World Cup victory over Nigeria and appeared for a combined 10 minutes in group-stage matches against Ghana and Uruguay.
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