Bernardo Silva has admitted that the decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal's last-16 tie against Switzerland was 'not a shock' - and also revealed the players were told the news just two hours before kick-off.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was named on the bench for Portugal's clash with the Swiss at Lusail Stadium, having scored just once in the group stages. However, Ronaldo reacted angrily after being taken off in the 2-1 defeat against South Korea - something manager Fernando Santos was not happy with.
To make matters worse for Ronaldo, his replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored a hat-trick for Portugal as they ran out 6-1 winners over Switzerland, with Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro and Rafael Leao also finding the net. It has since been revealed that the Portugal squad only found out shortly before kick-off that Ronaldo was left out of the XI due to the amount of speculation that was surrounding the 37-year-old.
