With Cristiano Ronaldo benched, his replacement has scored the first hat-trick of the Qatar World Cup as Portugal locked up the last quarterfinal spot with a 6-1 demolition of Switzerland.

Gonçalo Ramos was starting his first game for Portugal, replacing Ronaldo after he was axed from the starting line-up by manager Fernando Santos, and the 21-year-old scored the opening goal of the match and completed the first hat-trick of the tournament when his third went in in the 67th minute.

Ronaldo eventually got on the pitch in the 74th minute and even found the back of the net, but his mistimed run left him clearly offside so the goal was struck off.

Despite the drama surrounding the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, Portugal put together an impressive performance to reach a last-eight clash with Morocco.

Earlier, the north African saide reached the quarterfinals for the first time after a heroic performance from goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to oust 2010 winners Spain.

They were tied 0-0 after extra time and went to penalties, but the Spaniards could not find the net once, with one shot hitting the post and two others brilliantly saved by Sevilla keeper Bounou.

Look back at the last day of round-of-16 matches in our live blog.

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By Jon Healy

By Jon Healy

I'll bid you farewell after a thoroughly interesting match that makes the rest of the tournament even more intriguing.

There's plenty more to say about that game, and we'll have extended coverage on abc.net.au/sport, so make sure you head there now and bookmark or just constantly refresh the page for all the latest.

By Jon Healy

Wowee. Obviously there are always a lot of eyes on Cristiano Ronaldo, but he barely smiled after full-time and he's just walked immediately off the field and straight up the tunnel as his team celebrated and acknowledged the fans on a half lap of honour.

Craig Foster says on SBS that by holding Ronaldo back until the 74th minute, Fernando Santos "pretty much killed" Ronaldo's chances of getting a goal because the team wasn't really surging by that point.

They also hooked Joao Felix, who was creating in the middle, at the same time.

By Jon Healy

That was a brilliant performance and surely makes them one of the favourites heading into the quarters.

Fernando Santos was completely vindicated in his decision to bench superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, with Goncalo Ramos scoring a hat-trick in his first start for Portugal.

By Jon Healy

This sub is rapid and he broke down the left, cut back inside and curled one perfectly into the bottom right corner of the net.

By Jon Healy

There was a ball over the top and he was winding up the searing volley, but the Swiss defence cleared in time.

And then a cross from Rafael Leao flies over his head.

By Jon Healy

The entire stadium buzzes with excitement as Granit Xhaka loses the ball in midfield and the ensuing through ball is only just out of Ronaldo's reach.

Then he does get the ball crossing halfway and gets through to finish past Yann Sommer, but he was so far offside. He really didn't even seem to be trying to time his run.

By Jon Healy

It wasn't a bad effort either, receiving the ball from Xherdan Shaqiri at the top of the box, flicking it up to himself and going for the bicycle kick, but sending it wide.

Why not try fun stuff at this point?

By Jon Healy

The crowd realises what it means, as Cristiano Ronaldo takes his steps back and strikes that familiar power stance.

And he belts it straight into the wall.

By Jon Healy

Pepe hands over the captain's armband and there's an enormous cheer as Cristiano Ronaldo comes onto the field.

He's part of a three-man change, coming on for Joao Felix.

Goncalo Ramos and Otavio also leave the game, with Ricardo Horta and Vitinha coming on.

By Jon Healy

Raphael Guerreiro had to volley in his cross from the left wing and it was just off target, too far in front of Bruno Fernandes for him to get a boot to it.

By Jon Healy

Portugal is running through Switzerland at will now.

Again Joao Felix played provider after a long ball forward out of defence, and Ramos had plenty of time to assess things as Yann Sommer came out at him, just coolly popping the ball over the onrushing keeper.

I believe that's the first hat-trick of this World Cup.

By Jon Healy

Xherdan Shaqiri sends a ball into orbit from the right wing. I haven't seen many shots at goal miss worse than that.

By Jon Healy

It sounds like every fan in the Lusail Iconic Stadium is chanting "RONALDO! RONALDO! RONALDO!"

A lot of them surely bought tickets hoping to see him star, but he's just been sitting down all game.

By Jon Healy

Defender Manuel Akanji gets Switzerland's first-ever knockout goal, lurking at the far post off a corner, and Ramos header just skidded right to his feet and he finished off the outside of his right boot for a close-range tap-in.

By Jon Healy

Joao Felix again created that with his speed around halfway, finding Goncalo Ramos in the middle at the top of the box, and he went wider to Raphael Guerreiro, who rocketed a ball past Yann Sommer from the left.

This has the potential to get seriously ugly.

Switzerland had made two changes to the midfield just before that goal, and they certainly looked out of sorts there.

By Jon Healy

After an attempted ball over the top to Goncalo Ramos was just barely nodded away, Diogo Dalot reloaded on the right wing and sent a low ball in to the near post, where Goncalo Ramos managed to get a toe on it and in past Yann Sommer.

By Jon Healy

Defender Fabian Schaer was subbed off at half-time for Eray Comert.

And the back line looked sturdy as they cleared that corner to avoid going 3-0 down.

By Jon Healy

Will we see Cristiano Ronaldo in this second half?

By Jon Healy