Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has once again been benched by Fernando Santos for Portugal's World Cup quarter-final clash with Morocco. After starting all three of his country's group games, Ronaldo was left out of the starting XI for the last-16 fixture against Switzerland.
Following an incident in Portugal's final group match with South Korea, Santos seemed to explain why Ronaldo was named on the bench against Switzerland, saying, “I’d heard him (Ronaldo) in discussion with Korea’s players. But I didn’t like the other images when I saw them. Not at all. I really didn’t like them. Now, everything has finished. That issue is finished. Full stop."
Santos opted to hand Benfica star Goncalo Ramos his first senior national team start and he certainly did not disappoint as the 21-year-old scored the first hat-trick of the tournament. Portugal eased beyond Switzerland beating them 6-1 to set up a quarter-final match with Morocco.
