LUSAIL, Qatar — Portugal manager Fernando Santos now has a level of control over Cristiano Ronaldo that Erik ten Hag created at Manchester United.
We all know how that turned out — Ronaldo’s Old Trafford contract ripped up last month in an acrimonious exit — but Portugal showed on Tuesday night that a similar implosion is not inevitable for their captain in Qatar.
Santos felt compelled to remind the 37-year-old that he is part of a team, no longer untouchable and immune from the disciplinary conventions that bind mere mortals. The petulance Ronaldo showed in reacting negatively to his substitution against South Korea was a reminder of the behaviour that led to his departure from United; his devoted supporters viewing any diminishing status as disrespect, his critics fueled by evidence Ronaldo is incapable of controlling his rage at the inexorable dying of the light.
Ronaldo’s awesome powers may be on the wane but make no mistake, leaving him on the bench against Switzerland was a massive call. This was the first time he did not start a game for Portugal at a major tournament since 2008, ending a 31-game streak. And so what followed was nothing short of remarkable: Ronaldo’s replacement, Goncalo Ramos, defied having just 33 minutes of international football to his name to net a hat-trick in a 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland in which Portugal looked far more fluid and dynamic than at any previous stage here in Qatar.
This was a collective performance to rival any produced at these finals, propelling Portugal alongside England as the tournament’s joint top-scorers on 12 goals. The mixture of fluidity and flair in evidence will serve as a warning to all seven teams left — and should also evoke familiar feelings in Ronaldo, watching on for all but the last 17 minutes.
United became a more potent and unpredictable attacking unit with Ronaldo. How can anyone argue differently about Portugal here? Ramos became the youngest man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup knockout match after Pele.
Switzerland, who had conceded just twice in three matches to this point, were completely overwhelmed. Bruno Fernandes had one of those evenings where his instincts were sharp, playing passes with precision as opposed to the scattergun distribution he often produces for United. Joao Felix was a constant menace. As Portugal sat 4-1 up on the hour mark, Santos came under pressure from a crowd desperate to see their idol, regardless of the cohesion they witnessed in his absence.
It was a feeling that built before kick-off, with as many cameras trained on the Portugal dugout as there were on the teams belting out their national anthems inside the Lusail Stadium. Santos ended up shooing away the assembled throng as they threatened to break the rope cordoning them off from Ronaldo and his fellow substitutes. He desperately wanted the attention shifted elsewhere. And from the moment Ramos smashed a sumptuous 17th-minute shot inside Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer‘s near post from a tight angle, Santos’s judgment looked vindicated.
