CR7 Reduced To Bench Role As Rampant Portugal Book Last 8 Berth

Gonçalo Ramos, who started ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, bagged a hat-trick as Portugal thrashed Switzerland 6-1 to advance to the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals.

Selecao coach Fernando Santos made the surprise decision to start Ronaldo on the bench as Ramos was given a start, while Diogo Dalot started ahead of Joao Felix.

The decision to include Ramos paid off for the 2016 European champions, who broke the deadlock on 17 minutes after the striker collected a pass from Joao Felix before firing past Yann Sommer with a powerful left-footed strike. Portugal had a chance to double his side's lead on 24 minutes as he skipped past the challenge of Fabian Schar on the edge of the box, but could only fire straight at Sommer who managed to gather.

The lead was doubled in the 33rd minute when defender Pepe, the oldest player in the squad, rose above his marker to head home Bruno Fernandes' corner. He is now also the oldest player to in the World Cup knockout stages.

Switzerland, meanwhile, were unable to trouble Portugal in the opening 45 minutes as goalkeeper Diogo Costa barely had a touch of the ball.

Portugal carried that momentum into the second half and extended their lead eight minutes in, with Ramos completing his brace by turning home Dalot's cross at the near post.

Ramos' impressive evening continued as he turned provider for Portugal's next goal, as he slipped in Raphael Guerreiro who rifled the ball home from close range to make it 4-0.

Switzerland did improve as the second half went on, as they managed to pull a goal back in the just before the hour mark through Manuel Akanji's glancing header.

However, Portugal ended any hopes of a late comeback when Ramos latched onto a pass from Felix before dinking the ball over Sommer to complete his hat-trick.

That was Ramos' last big involvement as he made way for Ricardo Horta on 73 minutes, while Ronaldo and Vitinha replaced Felix and Otavio for the final 20 minutes of the encounter.

Ronaldo did have the ball in the back of the net in the closing stages of the half, but the celebrations were cut short after the offside flag was raised.

Nevertheless, fellow substitute Rafael Leao rounded off the scoring in second-half stoppage time with a wonderful curling finish as Portugal set up a quarter-final date with Morocco this weekend.