A poll is being conducted in the Portuguese media about whether Gonzalez Ramos should start the quarter-finals of the Portuguese national team before Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese news agency Bola conducts a daily sports poll, and today’s topic is the decision that Fernando Santos made in front of himself after Portugal’s crushing victory last night.
Last night, Santos brought out the unproven Ramos in front of the national hero Cristiano Ronaldo, and this decision was fraught with huge risk.
It turned out to be an inspired call; Ramos opened the scoring and scored a wonderful hat-trick as Portugal defeated Switzerland six to one.
Not only the goals stood out, the relentless running of the young man from Benfica became an obstacle for Santos’ wards, who created one of the performances at the tournament.
This led to the fact that the Portuguese fans had no doubt who should come forward against Croatia in the next round.
The poll throughout the day was more than 90% in favor of Ramos, and it is not expected that Ronaldo will finally lose popularity after his irritation when he was replaced in the final group match against South Korea.
It’s becoming an all-too-familiar feeling for Ronaldo, whose messy end to his Manchester United career included similar acts of disrespect to his boss and teammates.
Despite his ridiculous 118 goals for his country, the Portuguese public clearly believes that the team works better without him.
The movement and connection of the Portuguese last night was frightening — a performance that marked their arrival at the tournament and highlighted their reputation as potential winners.
It would be another bold decision by Santos to exclude Ronaldo from the eleven against Morocco, given his pedigree and influence in the dressing room.
However, yesterday’s performance combined with the support of Portuguese fans, CR7 may have to settle for a cameo role in the rest of the tournament as Portugal looks much more dynamic without an aging superstar leading the line.
