Portugal vs Switzerland (6-1) || World Cup 2022 || Round of 16

A sensational hat-trick from Gonçalo Ramos fired Portugal to a resounding 6-1 victory over Switzerland at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, as the Seleção secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup (WC) for just the second time since 1966.

With most of the pre-match talk dominated by Fernando Santos’ decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo, following the forward’s angry reaction to being substituted in Portugal's final group game against South Korea, the opening exchanges of the contest were cagey. Yet, despite an uneventful start, it was Ramos – the man who replaced Ronaldo in the Portuguese starting 11 – who soon took centre stage, with a stunning angled strike that flew beyond a flat-footed Yann Sommer.

Buoyed by the breakthrough, a Seleção went in pursuit of a quickfire second, and duly doubled their advantage in the 33rd minute, when a superb Bruno Fernandes corner was clinically headed home by veteran centre-back Pepe. It looked like a truly fatal blow, and even the most ardent of Swiss fans could not foresee a miraculous recovery, especially with June 1938 marking the last occasion their nation had ever fought back from 2-0 down to win a match at the World Cup finals.

Any hopes of an unlikely comeback from the current generation were extinguished within 10 minutes of the second half, as Portugal found the net with a pair of experly-taken goals. First, Ramos reacted fastest inside the six-yard box to tap home from a Diogo Dalot cross, before Raphaël Guerreiro finished a flowing team move with an emphatic strike into the roof of the net.

Despite the Portuguese assault, Switzerland managed to immediately pull a goal back through Manuel Akanji, although this did little to stem the tide, as Ramos soon completed his treble with a clipped finish over Sommer. In doing so, he ensured that Portugal would at least match their greatest margin of victory at the World Cup finals over a European nation since Pauleta’s treble helped to smash Poland 4-0 in Jeonju 20 years ago.

Armed with a four-goal lead and the luxury of bringing Ronaldo off the bench for the final 20 minutes, Portugal added further gloss to the scoreline late on, as substitute Rafael Leão curled home from range, to give the Euro 2016 winners optimal momentum ahead of an intriguing last-eight clash with surprise package Morocco, who eliminated Spain on penalties earlier tonight.