Fans have just realised why Bernardo Silva refused to celebrate with his Portugal teammates against Switzerland

Bernardo Silva didn't fully celebrate with his teammates when Goncalo Ramos fired Portugal ahead against Switzerland on Tuesday night.

The Benfica striker replaced Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting XI and scored a stunning hat-trick on his World Cup debut as Portugal destroyed Murat Yakin's side 6-1.

Pepe, Raphael Guerrero and Rafael Leao were also on target in the trouncing, which set up a World Cup quarter final with Morocco.

But fans noticed that for the thunderous opener, Manchester City midfielder Silva wasn't overly involved in the wild celebrations near the stands.

He did join in the pile on where substitutes jumped in but Silva made his way back onto the field of play quicker than everybody else while the scenes were still ongoing.

However, eagle-eyed viewers became aware of just why Silva swiftly headed back to the field of play and into the opposition half.

They think he did it so that Switzerland couldn't restart the match and try and score straight away.

Image: Twitter/@Trivela_FR

There is a feeling that because FIFA's Law 8 says that for play to resume, “all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play," - some count being off the pitch as not being in their half.

Quick-thinking Silva was not taking any risks and received praise for his action.

One fan wrote: "Bernardo's 5-star game vision even when he's not playing."

Another said: "That's very important, I don't think we know enough about this rule."

A third weighed in: "Notice Bernando [sic] Silva staying alive during the celebrations, running back on to the pitch. Elite mentality."

A fourth commented: "I just learned something! Very well done Bernardo."

A fifth opined: Bernardo Silva doing that thing about keeping one player in opposing half to stop a quick re-start. Still not sure if that would actually be allowed."

Kieran Trippier did similar in the 2018 World Cup when he did not feature in the pile-on after Harry Kane's last-gasp winner against Tunisia.

Alamy

And later on in the tournament, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford tried to score from kick-off while Croatia were celebrating going ahead in extra time of the semi-final clash.

They had seen a Panama player try it when England scored in the group stage thrashing earlier in the showpiece but the referee was not having it.

Meanwhile Silva still got to enjoy five more goals as Portugal ran riot. Ronaldo, having been dropped by Fernando Santos, came on for Joao Felix in the 73rd minute.

While his teammates celebrated with the fans, the Portugal captain did not stick around and headed down the tunnel.