World Cup Day 17 in memes: Santos 'aka Ten Hag' drops Ronaldo, Hakimi’s ‘Panenka’ vs Spain

Day 17 at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 marked the conclusion of the Rund of 16 stages in the prestigious quadrennial event. The day witnessed another major upset after 2010 World Cup champions Spain was knocked out of the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Morocco in the penalty shootout.

While Morocco converted three out of the four attempts in the shootout, Spain failed to breach goalkeeper Yassine Bounou’s fortress. Achraf Hakimi's 'panenka' penalty goal was one of the highlights of the match.

Twitter hails Morocco goalkeeper Bono as Moroccan minister of defence

Bono became a trend on social media as meme pages hailed him for being a wall in front of the young Spanish attack. While the game concluded with a 0-0 draw after the final whistle, the 3-0 win in the shootout meant Morocco advanced into the FIFA World Cup 2022 quarterfinals.

Later in the day, Portugal scripted a sensational 6-1 victory against Switzerland in the last Round of 16 game at the 2022 edition of the World Cup.

Memes link Fernando Santos with Erik ten Hag as Cristiano Ronaldo gets dropped

Cristiano Ronaldo became the biggest talking point of the match, as Portugal coach Fernando Santos decided to drop the five-time Ballon d’Or winner from the starting lineup. Interestingly, youngster Goncalo Ramos replaced Ronaldo in the starting XI and returned with a hattrick on his maiden World Cup appearance. However, Ronaldo did come in as a substitute in the 72nd minute but Portugal had already wrapped the game by then.

The 21-year-old scored the Portuguese team’s opening goal in the 17th minute and found the net again in the 51st and 67th minutes. Pepe in the 33rd minute, Raphael Guerreiro in the 55th minute, and Rafael Leao at 90+2’ were the other goal-scorers for Portugal. Portugal and Morocco will now lock horns in the quaterfinals of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on December 10, eyeing a victory and qualification for the semis.