Sublime double from Edinson Cavani dumps Ronaldo on to the World Cup scrapheap

Edinson Cavani of Uruguay celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Round of 16 match between Uruguay and Portugal at Fisht Stadium on June 30, 2018 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Uruguay secured their spot in the quarterfinals of the 2018 World Cup as a brace from Edinson Cavani handed them a 2-1 victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.

The ever-dangerous duo of Luis Suarez and Cavani combined to great effect when the former whipped in a high cross which the latter met at the far post to head home the opener after seven minutes.

After seeing Ronaldo’s shot easily parried by Fernando Muslera, the Portuguese made entry to the goal again minutes after going down but Jose Fonte was unable to profit after heading wide from close range.

The Uruguayans tried to increase their tally but Suarez was unable to do so from a free-kick situation on 26 minutes, with Rui Patricio getting down low to keep out the striker’s free-kick.

Raphael Guerriero came close to finding the equaliser but his shot from the left only managed to find the side-netting as Uruguay went into the break leading.

Ten minutes into the second half, Pepe rose highest to meet a short corner from Bernardo Silva to head home the equaliser.

Portugal’s joy was short-lived, though, as Cavani struck again, this time with an audacious curling finish past the keeper and into the back of the net on 62 minutes.

The chance for Portugal to again go level was spurned as Bernado Silva failed to pounce on poor handling from Muslera with a wayward finish that sailed into the crowd.

Amidst a late flurry of half-chances at either end, Uruguay had done enough for a successive quarter-final berth at the World Cup, where they will meet France in Novgorod in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Teams:

Uruguay: Muslera; Cáceres, Giménez, Godín, Laxalt; Torreira, Nández, Vecino, Bentancur; L.Suárez, Cavani.

Portugal: Rui Patrício; Ricardo Pereira, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; Carvalho, Adrien, B. Silva, João Mário; Guedes, Ronaldo.