Georgina Rodriguez Posts Statement On Cristiano Ronaldo's Benching After Portugal Shine Without Him
Portugal produced their best team performance in years on Tuesday night to thrash Switzerland 6-1 in the round of 16 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The headline news before the game was that Cristiano Ronaldo had been benched by Portugal coach Fernando Santos, who was said to have been disappointed with the 37-year-old's body language during Portugal's 2-1 loss to South Korea in the group stage.
Benfica forward Goncalo Ramos, 21, replaced Ronaldo in the starting XI and rewarded his manager's faith in him by scoring a hat-trick on his first ever World Cup start.
Ramos also provided an assist in a dominating 74-minute outing.
Defenders Pepe and Raphael Guerreiro joined Ramos on the scoresheet for Portugal, while Manuel Akanji netted a consolation strike for Switzerland.
Ronaldo had been the center of attention before the match as hundreds of cameras focused on him during the national anthems, rather than the eleven starters.
Indeed, a huge chunk of the reported 83,720 fans in attendance at Lusail Stadium had come to see Ronaldo over Portugal.
After chanting his name relentlessly throughout the second half, those fans got their wish in the 74th minute when Ronaldo replaced Ramos.
Ronaldo had the ball in the net soon after but was well offside.
Rafael Leao then came on for the final three minutes and marked his cameo with a fine goal.
Portugal had looked like a well-oiled team without Ronaldo.
With him, they appeared slightly disjointed.
This was not only evidenced by what happened during the match.
After it, Ronaldo approached the Portugal fans by himself to soak up their adoration before leaving the rest of his teammates to celebrate together.
Georgina Rodriguez Urges Fernando Santos To Un-Bench Cristiano Ronaldo
Portugal will play Morocco in the quarter-finals on Saturday and it will be very hard for Santos to select Ronaldo ahead of hat-trick hero Ramos.
But Ronaldo's girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez, is hoping that Santos will give the fans what they want by starting "the best player in the world".
Posting on Instagram after Portugal beat Switzerland, Rodriguez wrote: "Congratulations Portugal. While the 11 players sang the anthem, all eyes were on you. What a shame not to have been able to enjoy the best player in the world for 90 minutes.
"The fans did not stop asking for you and shouting your name. May God and your dear friend Fernando continue hand in hand and make us vibrate one more night."
Georgina Rodriguez pictured (center) watching Portugal vs Switzerland after her boyfriend, Cristiano Ronaldo, was dropped from the starting XI
IMAGO/PA Images/Mike Egerton
