Portugal progressed to the World Cup quarter-final after a 6-1 drubbing of Switzerland. Find the Portugal World Cup ratings below.
Portugal player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK: Diogo Costa – 5/10 – Costa struggled a little bit again, despite having nothing to do in terms of making saves.
RB: Diogo Dalot – 8/10 – The Manchester United right defender, preferred over Joao Cancelo, kept Ruben Vargas out of the game and earned an assist in the process.
CB: Pepe – 8/10 – The oldest player to score in a World Cup knockout round. He defended it with his usual tenacity and aggression.
CB: Ruben Dias – 6/10 – Found it difficult to deal with Embolo’s strength and intelligence, but that didn’t really matter.
LB: Raphael Guerreiro – 8/10 – Enjoyed moving forward and hardly noticed Sow bothering her. Took his goal like an experienced forward.
CM: William Carvalho – 8/10 – Won his battle against Xhaka, who was in good form.
CM: Otavio – 8/10 – Replaced Ruben Neves and didn’t miss a beat in the middle of the field. Together with the seasoned Carvalho, his fast feet performed wonders.
RM: Bernardo Silva – 7/10 – Flitted between the lines and allowed the counterattack to start the game. Shifted occasionally to a deeper midfield position.
AM: Bruno Fernandes – 9/10 – Like at the club level, Fernandes benefited from Ronaldo’s obstruction of his field of vision. He was always a menace, whether personally or by providing for others, and led Portugal’s attacks.
LM: Joao Felix – 9/10 – On a day when the president of Atletico Madrid’s team acknowledged he would depart the organization, Felix positioned himself in the storefront with an imposing creative entrance coming in from the left.
CF: Goncalo Ramos – 10/10 – Silenced the critics who argued that he shouldn’t have been chosen as Ronaldo’s replacement so swiftly. With his combination of physicality and technique, he intimidated Switzerland. Has scored more hat-trick goals in the World Cup semifinals than Ronaldo has ever been a part of.
Substitutes
Cristiano Ronaldo (73′ for Ramos) – 5/10
Vitinha (73′ for Otavio) – 6/10
Ricardo Horta (73′ for Otavio) – 6/10
Ruben Neves (81′ for Silva) – N/A
Rafael Leao (87′ for Fernandes) – N/A
Managers
Fernando Santos – 9/10 – Made a bold decision to (eventually) dump Ronaldo, and it paid off.
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