Sensational Ramos stops all the rumblings over Ronaldo

THE king is dead, long live the king. It was always going to take something special to overshadow Cristiano Ronaldo after he was dropped last night, but Goncalo Ramos’s sensational hat trick ensured he was the man on the front and back pages in Portugal this morning.

Leading Portuguese newspaper A Bola ran a picture of Ramos on their front page, hailing the 21-year-old Benfica striker as ‘The Demolisher’.

Ramos is also known as ‘The Wizard’, and he produced a magical performance last night, as Portugal thumped Switzerland to reach the quarter-finals.

For his first trick, Ramos picked up the ball inside the penalty area, turned and smashed it into the top corner. For his second, he nutmegged the goalkeeper with a near-post flick. The third was a cool, dinked finish. Not bad for a player making only his fourth appearance and full debut for Portugal.