FIFA World Cup: Portugal's manager explains why Ronaldo wasn't selected for the starting lineup against Switzerland: "It was a game strategy."

Lusail Qatar, December 7: Portugal boss Fernando Santos said that leaving star striker Cristiano Ronaldo out of the starting team was a game strategy following his team's win over Switzerland in their round-robin FIFA World Cup match.Portugal advanced to the quarterfinals of the upcoming FIFA World Cup after defeating Switzerland 6-1 at Lusail, Qatar, on Wednesday, thanks to a hat-trick from 21-year-old Goncalo Ramos and strikes from Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro, and Rafael Leao, who was quoted by Goal.com.They are different players.It was game design, and all the players are different, I also introduced Dalot and Raphael, but Cancelo is also a great player.

Players make decisions.We do not have to suffer.That part was completely resolved, and he gave a great example of a great captain, he said.Joao Felix made the first attempt at attacking Portugals side by passing to Bruno Fernandes at the edge of the Swiss box, but the latter couldn't control the ball.In the fifth minute, the Swiss forward Breel Embolo latched onto a headed pass and drove past two defenders, but Pepe deflected his shot.

Ramos made good use of Joao Felix's pass.Switzerland's defender Fabian Schar was down on the ground and treated in the 25th minute.Shaqiri fired a fine shot up and over the Portuguese wall, seemed to be heading towards the post, but Portugal keeper Costa took no risks and collected the ball in the 33rd minute.Pepe doubled Portugal's lead in the 33rd minute.Felix scored and became Portugal's oldest scorer in the World Cup knockout stages after a superb header.In the 35th minute, he had a scoring opportunity for Portugal but fumbled it.Portugal continued to dominate play.

At halftime, the scoreline read 2-0 in favor of Portugal, who also dominated ball possession with 58% as opposed to the Swiss 47 percent.At the reprise of the match, Portugal got a corner in the 49th minute, but Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez prevented the Portuguese from adding a third.In the 51st minute, Diogo Dalot drilled the ball into the near post and Ramos fired it through Yann Sommers legs, bringing the score to 3-0.He added to Portugal's pile of injuries with a brace, but in the 56th minute, Raphael Guerreiro made full use of the space left by Swiss right-back Fernandez to add another goal.

Switzerland opened their account in the 58th minute with the assistance of Manuel Akanji, who made the scoreline read 4-1.But there was certainly a lot to be done.In the 59th minute, Switzerland's Eray Comert was booked for committing a foul.In the 67th minute, Ramos' superb finish sent the ball past Sommer, bringing up his hat-trick, the first in the 2022 tournament edition.Ronaldo ran into a goal in the 80th minute but missed an opportunity to score, so Portugal qualified for the quarterfinals with a victory in the 84th minute.

Portugal fired 14 shots at their target, nine of which were on target.The Swiss fired ten shots at the goal, three of which were on target.