[Sports] Gonçalo Ramos: Meet the striker who replaced Cristiano Ronaldo and made World Cup history at Qatar 2022 By Ben Morse, CNN

[ORIGINje]

alk about performing under pressure and making an impression at Qatar 2022, Gonçalo Ramos certainly rose to the occasion for Portugal.

Playing instead of Portugal’s all-time leading scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ramos scored an emphatic hat-trick, almost singlehandedly sealing his team’s place in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals with a 6-1 win over Switzerland at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Tuesday.

Not only was it his first start at Qatar 2022, the tournament’s first hat-trick, but Ramos’ three goals in this last-16 tie puts Ronaldo record in one-off World Cup games somewhat in the shade. Ronaldo has never scored in a World Cup knockout match, despite competing in five tournaments.

So, who is this 21-year-old striker nicknamed “Pistoleiro” by fans?

Benfica Campus
Ramos is a product of the famous Benfica academy. Known as the Benfica Campus the academy helped launch the careers of some of Ramos’ Portugal teammates, including João Félix and Rúben Dias.

At the academy, around 95 players live there at any one time, and when they transition from the Under-18s to the Under-19s, players move out into their own houses or apartments in Lisbon.

“In our opinion, it was the age that they start to have their own lives,” Rodrigo Magalhães, technical coordinator for the Campus, told CNN earlier this year.

“Some of them have girlfriends, some of them live two or three in an apartment. So they start a life outside the academy as we need to prepare them to live their lives because we know that a small percentage of players will achieve the goal to play in the first team or in the main leagues in Europe.

“After those ages, Under-19 and Under-23, normally all of our players who progress [from the academy] can play in first divisions and second divisions here in Portugal or in other countries, but we need to prepare them if football fails.

“The first objective was to develop them like human beings and we need to prepare them with a strong academic development too.”

Ramos joined the Benfica Campus in 2013, enjoying a stellar youth team career for the club and his national team.

He won the national title at the Under-15 and Under-17 age levels, while also finishing as the top scorer in the Under-19 Euros as Portugal finished runner-up to Spain.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/07/football/goncalo-ramos-portugal-2022-world-cup-spt-intl/index.html