International manager Fernando Santos has opened up on his decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal’s starting lineup to face Switzerland.
The 2016 European champions are through to the World Cup quarter-finals after thumping Tuesday’s opponents 6-1.
However, the biggest talking point leading up to Portugal’s Last 16 tie against Switzerland was Santos’ decision to drop Ronaldo to the substitute’s bench.
Young striker Goncalo Santos stepped up in place of the experienced forward and the 21-year-old’s World Cup debut could not have gone any better.
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Scoring an emphatic hattrick, Ramos, whose first goal is a contender to win ‘goal of the tournament’, was superb and is now arguably undroppable ahead of his country’s quarter-final clash against Morocco on Saturday afternoon.
Whether or not Santos will stick with the Benfica forward ahead of Ronaldo remains to be seen, however, speaking recently about how the ex-Man United attacker handled being dropped, Portugal’s manager, as quoted by Ben Jacobs, said: “I spoke to him after lunch on the day of the game and invited him into my office.
“[He] was not happy about it since he’s always been a starting player. He told me, ‘Do you really think it’s a good idea?’
Portugal’s upcoming quarter-final against Morocco, which is scheduled to take place at the Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday, is set to kick off at 3 p.m (UK time) and will be broadcast live on ITV.