Bruno Fernandes has joked Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos “has to do more” after he bagged a sensational hat-trick in his side’s 6-1 demolition of Switzerland.
Ramos, 21, was making his first start for his nation after Cristiano Ronaldo was surprisingly dropped for the World Cup Round of 16 clash. Yet the Benfica striker grabbed the headlines as his nation progressed to set up a quarter-final clash with Morocco, who beat Spain on penalties earlier on Tuesday.
Ramos blasted into the roof of the net to open the scoring for Fernando Santos’s side and he went on to score twice more after the break; slotting home from Diogo Dalot’s cross for his second and Portugal’s third and then produced a dinked finish over Yann Sommer to complete an eye-catching hat-trick.
The striker has been starring for Benfica this campaign with 14 goals in all competitions, including netting five times in the Champions League group stages. Manchester United have reportedly made contact with the representatives at the behest of boss Erik ten Hag.
After the match, the subject of the striker’s future came up in a light-hearted interview in which United playmaker Fernandes was involved. Fernandes produced another influential performance for his nation and joked that Ramos “has to do more” after his treble on his first start.
Alongside Fernandes for the interview was Otavio, who plays for Porto and is a rival for Ramos at club level. The midfielder joked about Ramos that “it would be good to see him go away” to which Fernandes – formerly the captain of Sporting Lisbon, Benfica’s city rivals – replied “yeah” before both laughing.
Fernandes went on to sent Ramos a transfer message by telling him: “Otavio wants him to leave Benfica!”. Otavio then added: "I'm kidding. He [Ramos] had a great game. He fought a lot up front; he helped us a lot and that’s it."
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Fernandes jokingly continued: "He's been taking a lot of advice from us while we've been playing cards and that's why he has this type of benefits."
United are on the lookout for a new striker in the January transfer window after the club ended their relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo by mutual consent last month. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have been left as the only senior strikers in Ten Hag’s first-team squad.
Ramos will be hopeful of retaining his place up front for Portugal for the remainder of the tournament as they now prepare to take on Morocco – the only remaining African nation at this year’s World Cup – in the last eight.
