Uruguay 2-1 Portugal: 5 Talking Points as Portugal are knocked out, World Cup 2018
Uruguay beat Portugal 2-1 in the second Round of 16 match at the World Cup at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on Saturday night to qualify for the quarter-final. A brace from Edinson Cavani was enough for the South American side to become the second side to qualify after France beat Argentina earlier in the day.
Pepe had equalised for Portugal to give the Iberian side hope but a Cavani masterclass saw Oscar Tabarez's side seal their progress to the next round. Here are the major talking points from the game.
#1 Uruguay's lightning-quick start to take the lead
It took Uruguay just 7 minutes to get on the scoresheet and it was the strike duo of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani working their magic to give the South American side the lead.
Although the two strikers were expected to play on the shoulder of the defenders in the back-line, this goal was created by both players dropping deep. It was Cavani who floated a cross-field ball to Suarez on the opposite flank before sprinting to the far post.
All Suarez had to do was look up to see a blue blur making that run and crossed the ball to the back post - a cross that beat both Jose Fonte and Raphael Guerreiro - to find an aerial Cavani heading it past Patricio to make it 1-0.
With two fantastic crosses, Cavani and Suarez had taken out the entire Portuguese defence to score Uruguay's second-fastest goal ever scored in the World Cup. For a defensively-solid team like Uruguay, it was the perfect start to set the tone for the rest of the match.
Suarez almost made it 2-0 with a clever free-kick that was deliberately kept low to beat the wall before Patricio made a diving save to deny a goal.