JONATHAN SHALLARD in DOHA: Portugal have discovered a new goalscoring hero and the World Cup has discovered new quarter-finalists in Morocco after the concluding matchday of the Round of 16 in Qatar.

Fernando Santos, coach of Portugal, was rewarded for replacing Cristiano Ronaldo with Goncalo Ramos when the 21-year-old marked his first start for his country with a hat-trick in a 6-1 defeat of Switzerland. Previously the Benfica striker had played only 33 minutes at senior level.

Ramos opened the scoring with a powerful drive which beat keeper Yann Sommer at his near post after only 17 minutes and veteran Pepe, captain in place of Ronaldo, headed a second 15 minutes later.

In the second half Portugal ran riot. Ramos struck again from a right-wing cross in the 50th minute and completed his hat-trick in the 66th. He is only the second Portuguese player to have scored a World Cup treble after the great Eusebio against North Korea in 1966.

Inbetween Ramos’s second and third goals he laid on another for Raphael Guerreiro while Manuel Akanji grabbed a consolation for the shell-shocked Swiss. Rafael Leao chipped a stunning sixth goal for Portugal in the last minute.

Ronaldo, left on the bench after his bad-tempered reaction on being substituted against South Korea, replaced Ramos in the 72nd minute to cheers from Portuguese fans. He did put the ball in the net but the ‘goal’ was disallowed for offside.

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