Switzerland midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri apologised to their fans after they were dumped out of the World Cup in humiliating fashion as they suffered a 6-1 defeat to a rampant Portugal in the round of 16 at Lusail Stadium on Tuesday.
Goncalo Ramos scored a hat-trick, with Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro and Rafael Leao also on the scoresheet as Portugal put Switzerland to the sword to storm into their first World Cup quarter-final since 2006.
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Portugal coach Fernando Santos benched Cristiano Ronaldo and was rewarded with a far slicker and more artful display from his team than anything they had shown in the group stages as Switzerland were outplayed in every part of the pitch.
“Today we have to apologise to all Switzerland fans in the name of the team. That was not our true face tonight,” Shaqiri said.
“We’re very disappointed. We were shown our limits tonight. The coach gave us a plan but it did not work out for us. We lost the game already in the first half and were always a step too late.”
