Qatar 2022: With Ronaldo benched, Ramos emerged from obscurity to be the new star

We really must not start with you-know-who. Not on a night when Portugal transformed themselves into World Cup contenders by dismantling Switzerland with a dazzling team performance.

Not after Gonçalo Ramos marked his first start for his country, replacing the dropped you-know-who, with a superb hat-trick, the first of this tournament.

Portugal and Fernando Santos, the coach, and especially Ramos — the 21-year-old striker who had played only 33 minutes for his country before suddenly surging into the hunt for the Golden Boot — deserve every bit of the limelight.

It almost felt insulting that chants for you-know-who echoed around the Lusail Stadium as Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, João Félix and Ramos led a brilliant attacking performance, full of speed and zest, to whet the appetite for a quarter-final against Morocco, conquerors of Spain.

This was a scintillating team performance from first minute to last, but I suppose, eventually, we will have to mention Cristiano Ronaldo; firstly, to say that 70 per cent of Portuguese fans were not wrong.

That was the proportion who voted in one newspaper that he should be dropped.

If it was always going to feel like a ballsy move by Santos given his captain’s stature, it proved to be a necessary one. It liberated Portugal in much the same way that Manchester United are a better team since ditching a waning superstar whose personality has come to inhibit those around him; whose lack of movement, at 37, limits a team’s attack.

Ronaldo has been an inspiration for Portugal across two decades, and he may yet have an impact given that he did come on in the 74th minute with Portugal leading 5-1. Dropping him does not mean that he is finished, not quite yet, but even he knows the end as a serious footballer is close if he is negotiating to move to Saudi Arabia.

A reinvigorated Portugal were full of attacking verve without Ronaldo. Ramos’s full debut was sensational. It was notable that Santos talked afterwards of unity, fluidity, confidence and trust. The manager insisted that the selection was purely for footballing reasons, though he had made very clear at the pre-match press conference that he was peeved by Ronaldo’s stroppy reaction to being taken off against South Korea.

“That is finished, resolved,” he said. “I have had a very close relationship, known him since he was 19 at Sporting. We never misinterpret the human and personal aspect with that of manager and player.”

His simple explanation was that Ronaldo plays a “more fixed” position and Santos wanted more rotation and movement. He certainly had that from Ramos, who linked brilliantly with João Félix, in particular, and also Bernardo Silva, who thrived in a central role.

Ramos made his international debut only last month — from off the bench — yet in one performance, made it obvious that the decision to drop Ronaldo was not only correct but several matches too late. The Portugal attack seemed to enjoy themselves without Ronaldo as a traffic warden standing in the middle of the pitch, ordering them around.

All the cameras were on the Portuguese bench just before kick-off — it was, after all, the first time that Ronaldo had been left out of the Portugal side at a major tournament since the group stage of Euro 2004, and bound to create news — but attention soon shifted to where it mattered. With four goals in his previous three games for Benfica, Ramos’s form was good, but no one could have imagined quite such a spectacular arrival for this bustling centre forward.

After 17 minutes, he took the ball from João Félix with his back to goal. Fabian Schär, the Newcastle United defender, hung off a yard, not anticipating any danger, only to watch Ramos turn on to his left foot and belt an unstoppable shot past a bemused Yann Sommer from a sharp angle. Ramos was a constant threat against a Swiss team with an inept, inexplicable wingback system.

In between those strikes, Raphaël Guerreiro, preferred to João Cancelo in another move that paid off for Santos, finished off a brilliant team effort by bursting into the box and blasting past Sommer.

Switzerland pulled one back when a corner reached Akanji unmarked at the far post, but Ramos could even claim an assist for that, having inadvertently flicked the ball on. Still, there was time for more from Portugal, with Rafael Leão coming off the bench, cutting inside and curling the ball into the far corner.

“Honestly, Cristiano did what he always does as captain, help and encourage us,” Ramos said afterwards.

Ronaldo did have the ball in the net, too, during his cameo, but he was offside by several yards, knowing that he needs a head-start these days.

He has eight goals in World Cups, but none of them have come in the knockout rounds. He may yet have the chance to correct that anomaly but, now that the future has arrived, he cannot count on it.