World Cup LIVE: Uruguay vs Portugal latest score, Cavani goal stuns Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, will be seeking to show their European Championships win of two years ago was a stepping stone to a global challenge.

But a Uruguay side featuring Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani and Diego Godin will provide a stern test of Portuguese credentials.

Uruguay have yet to concede a goal in Russia while Portugal only shipped one in their four knockout games at Euro 2016.

The winner of this evening’s bout will play France in a quarter-final clash at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on July 6.

URUGUAY 1-1 PORTUGAL – CAVANI (7), PEPE (54)

Uruguay XI: Muslera, Caceres, Gimenez, Godin, Laxalt, Nandez, Torreira, Vecino, Bentancur, Suarez, Cavani.

Portugal XI: Rui Patricio, Ricardo Pereira, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro, Bernardo Silva, William Carvalho, Adrien Silva, Joao Mario, Goncalo Guedes, Ronaldo.

URUGUAY 1-1 PORTUGAL – PEPE

55: I suspect a few neutrals will be switching this match off. Uruguay aren’t particularly interested in scoring a second and look happy to sit back and absorb Portugal pressure.

53: Leicester signing Ricardo doesn’t half plough forward. He joins in with every attack and nearly found Ronaldo in the middle with a cross from the right, but Godin cleared the danger.

50: No immediate signs of Portugal making the breakthrough. Uruguay look more resilient and compact with Cavani dropping a bit deeper into midfield.

48: Portugal have made a tactical change with Bernardo Silva now moving into the hole behind the striker. He needs to get involved more.

45: And we’re back underway. Uruguay have now gone three-and-a-half matches without conceding in this competition. Can Portugal unlock the safe?

WHERE’S RONNIE?

HT: Cristiano Ronaldo had 24 touches for Portugal in the first half against Uruguay, but none of those came in the opposition box.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Steve: Luis Suarez is such a drama queen. Holds his head wherever he gets knocked pathetic. Which is why the referee left him on the ground… cried wolf too many times. Saying that come on Uruguay, sweepstakes team!

Messed: Defensively this Uruguayan team is best in the tournament. Having two deadly strikers upfront. Talk about being a dark horse

Chris: As good a player as Luis Suarez is, he’s always going to have that side to him. He was shoved in the back and he goes down for 2 minutes holding his head. Embarrassing, that. Not quite Rivaldo but it was up there.

You are seriously confused, Steve.

URUGUAY 1-0 PORTUGAL

HT: After two minutes of added time, the referee blows his whistle. Uruguay take a one-goal lead in with them at the break courtesy of Edinson Cavani.

Plenty needed for Portugal to get themselves back into things. They’ve been second-best all over the pitch.

45: Luis Suarez goes down under pressure from Guerreiro and acts like he’s been taken out by a sniper. He’s clutching his head but the full-back never touched it. Ridiculous.

43: Uruguay are fighting like beavers here, said in true Chris Kamara fashion. Every single player is tracking back and doing their defensive duties to stifle Portugal.

40: Toys are firmly out of the pram as the referee refuses to give Portugal a corner. Caceres clearly poked it out. Never seen so much hysteria.

38: Ronaldo and Lionel Messi going out on the same day? Say it ain’t so! Still plenty of time for Portugal to claw their way back. No immediate signs of that happening, however.

35: Smashes it straight into the wall. That was a bit of an anti-climax. Sorry guys.

34: Oooooh boy! Free-kick in Cristiano Ronaldo territory. Standby because he’s just pulled up his short.

The Real Madrid star steps up…

33: Since 1966, only Grzegorz Lato and Andrzej Szarmach (5 for Poland) and Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose (5 for Germany) have combined for more World Cup goals than Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez (4 for Uruguay).

Thanks, Opta.

30: We’ve reached the half-hour mark and Uruguay will be very happy. It’s like watching Atletico Madrid in LaLiga. Make the breakthrough and strangle the opposition for an hour…

29: Eh? The Portugal fans have decided to unleash the power of the Thunderclap! Not sure Iceland would be too pleased with that, lads.

28: Godin with a crafty push on Bernardo Silva as the Manchester City star gives him the slip. Portugal have a set-piece near the right-hand touchline.

Silva delivers but it alludes everyone and Suarez of all people is back to run it clear.

25: There’s a hush around the stadium, and that’s because Luis Suarez is standing over a free-kick about 20-yards from goal.

The Barcelona forward steps up… SAVE! Great effort from Suarez to go underneath the wall but Rui Patricio parries it away.

22: With all this talk of Godin floating around, Gimenez is often overlooked. The centre-back reads the danger and prevents Silva’s cross from reaching Ronaldo.

Portugal looking the livelier of the two sides now.

20: I’ve just noticed that some bored individual has created a twitter account for Cristiano Ronaldo’s little chin beard. Oh, apparently it’s a goatee…

17: Luis Suarez has now provided the assist for 12 of Edinson Cavani’s 44 goals for Uruguay (27%). Enjoy the useless pub ammunition.

16: Luis Suarez is nearly in. He collects a forward pass from Cavani and nips beyond Adrien Silva in midfield. Pepe ushered him wide and the deflected shot loops up kindly for Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

14: Lucas Torreira is down injured now after blocking a Cristiano Ronaldo shot. Cue every Arsenal fan crying in their living rooms. Don’t worry, he’s up again.

11: Portugal nearly respond immediately through Jose Fonte. Remember him? Anyway, Bernardo Silva crosses to the far post and Fonte heads wide.

URUGUAY 1-0 PORTUGAL – CAVANI

8: Brilliant. That is a sensation goal from Uruguay.

No prizes for guessing who combined to make the breakthrough. Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, who were born three weeks apart in the same town.

It’s superb one-two build-up play from the pair with Suarez producing an inch-perfect cross for Cavani, who uses his face/shoulder/chin to convert at the back post.

Who cares what body part he used!

6: I should probably know the answer to this, but why are Portugal in white tonight? I’m certain that red doesn’t clash with Uruguay’s blue.

Cristiano Ronaldo unleashes his first snapshot of the evening but Muslera gathers low.

URUGUAY 0-0 PORTUGAL

4: Fonte does well to usher Nandez away from goal but concedes a corner for his troubles. There’s a bit of shoving but not enough to send Pepe to the floor.

2: Just as we suspected. There’s a few niggling challenges and naughty moves in the early stages with two or three fouls being called. This one is going to get dirty.

Bernardo Silva has the first chance of the evening when stretching to head a deep cross over the bar.

URUGUAY 0-0 PORTUGAL

1: And we’re underway in the second last 16 clash. Predictions? I’ll plump for a 1-1 draw and Portugal to nick it in extra time. Let me find the odds on that banker…

Winner plays France next Friday.

THEY’VE ARRIVED…

18:55: Top marks for the Uruguay national anthem. What a delightful jaunty number. Luis Suarez and Co look fired up tonight. Five minutes until mayhem begins, folks.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Bob: The population of South London is far higher than the entire population of Uruguay…

Johnny: Uruguay haven’t conceded but they’ve not been tested yet. Portugal are an entirely different animal. They’re organised & more than just Ronaldo. There will be more goals than people think.

Jordan: My second bold prediction of the day, Ronaldo to win it with a worldie. Luis, Edinson, prove me wrong…

‘WE TOLERATED HIM’

18:50:  “We tolerated him from a defensive point of view and he was erratic in attack,” Gary Neville said of Cristiano Ronaldo during his first two seasons at Manchester United.

I’m sure HE tolerated YOU after that, Gary.

BARGAIN!

18:45: Cristiano Ronaldo’s buy-out clause at Real Madrid has been reduced from £884million to a meagre £106million, according to a report from Spain.

OK Diario has reported that the reduction, initially down to £354m and then £106m, was agreed between Real and Ronaldo earlier this year to facilitate a possible summer sale.

According to OK Diario, the massively reduced buy-out clause does not apply to Barcelona or any other clubs in Spain, or Paris St-Germain.

The report also says that since the reduction, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan have informed the superstar forward’s agent they would be ready to negotiate a deal in relation to the £106m figure.

TIGHT-ROPE…

18:40: Could Cristiano Ronaldo fall to a dreaded quarter-final suspension?

Ronaldo would miss the quarter-finals against France if he’s booked tonight.

Rodrigo Bentancur, Raphael Guerreiro and Adrien Silva are also in danger if they’re shown a yellow card.

PRETTY AS A PICTURE

18:35: Did you know about this?

Kazan artists worked through the night yesterday by painting a mural of Argentina’s Lionel Messi to match one of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo on a building opposite, saving the blushes of the World Cup host city.

The three-storey portrait of Ronaldo was painted on a building behind the Ramada Hotel to welcome the five-times World Player of the Year when Portugal played in the capital of Tatarstan in the 2017 Confederations Cup.

To the embarrassment of city officials, it turned out that Argentina would be staying at the same hotel with Messi potentially being able to see the Ronaldo mural from his room.

To avoid to appear to be taking sides in the eternal debate over which of the Spain-based forwards is the world’s best player, the city commissioned the smaller side profile of Messi.

PENS…

18:30: Sorry but we’ve got to talk about penalties. I won’t torture you with England’s pitiful record, so here’s how tonight’s nations have fared.

Uruguay record: P 10 W 5 L 5 (World Cup and Copa America)

Portugal record: P 4 W 3 L 1 (World Cup and European Championship)

Portugal can count two victories over England in their wins column, with the solitary defeat coming to Spain at Euro 2012.

Uruguay have won their only World Cup shoot-out, against Ghana in 2010 after Luis Suarez’s handball, but have a very mixed Copa America record.

PEDIGREE…

18:25: Perhaps Jose Mourinho would call it heritage… Whatever you want to call it, Uruguay have a proud World Cup history.

Despite its small population, Uruguay’s proud World Cup history including trophies in 1930 and 1950 and a fourth place finish in 2010 means fans’ expectations are high.

The South Americans were one of just three nations, along with Croatia and Belgium, to win all of their three group games. Dark horses? I should say so.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Amy: Portugal vs Uruguay: I’m certain that Portugal will be in final to take on France. I’ve called it.

Thrum: Now imagine if Portugal lose to Uruguay. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will meet at the same airport. Awkward.

Grant: Hope you enjoyed all the goals in the France clash because Uruguay vs Portugal might give us 120 minutes of blanks. Hope I’m wrong.

I hope you’re wrong too, Grant.

BORING…

18:15: Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez knows how to make headlines. Fresh from his inspiring speech about Cristiano Ronaldo, he now assumes people will think his side are boring.

“I don’t know what the match will be like,” Tabarez explained. “Maybe you are worried that it might start being boring; we don’t even think about that. We’re there to win.”

‘NO ONE MAN CAN STOP HIM’

18:10: Encouraging words from Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez, who admitted no one player can shackle Portugal’s dangerman Cristiano Ronaldo.

That’s one way to rally the troops…

Ronaldo comes up against arguably the strongest centre-back pairing at the tournament in Atletico Madrid duo Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez.

But Tabarez insists neither man is capable of handling Ronaldo on their own.

“I believe that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best strikers in the world,” he said. “What Ronaldo has on top of all of these qualities is that he’s the leader of that team. That is an additional factor.

“There’s not a single player who can contain him. Not just Godin. We will have to work collectively in order to try and limit the effect that he can have.”

BOOOOOOOOO!

18:08: Alternative arrangements need to be made for fans thinking of watching tonight’s clash in Moscow.

Stormy weather has prompted authorities to close the official FIFA fan zone, which regularly welcomes up to 25,000 fans watching the World Cup on its giant outdoor screens.

Bursts of rain and strong winds replaced weeks of heat and sunshine while the fan zone, a magnet for Russian and foreign soccer fans, stood empty, its entrances shut.

Move over Carol Kirkwood, there’s a new weather personality eyeing your job…

TEAM NEWS – PORTUGAL

18:05: Ricardo Quaresma’s superb strike against Iran wasn’t enough to keep him in the starting XI.

He, Cedric Soares and Andre Silva are dropped to the bench with Ricardo, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva from Manchester City and Goncalo Guedes return.

Cristiano Ronaldo wears the armband for the European champions.

TEAM NEWS – URUGUAY

18:00: Consistent as gravity is this Uruguay side. Well, nearly.

Head coach Oscar Tabarez makes one change from the side who beat Russia with centre-half Jose Gimenez returning to the starting XI. He replaces Sebastian Coates.

THE LINE-UPS…

17:50: And here are tonight’s line-ups folks. No surprises in the Uruguay starting XI, but Portugal boss Fernando Santos has made a few interesting decisions.

Uruguay XI: Muslera, Giminez, Godin, Caceres, Bentancur, Nanded, Torreira, Vecino, Laxalt, Suarez, Cavani.

Portugal XI: Patricio, Pepe, Raphael, Fonte, Ricardo, Mario, Bernardo Silva, Carvalho, Adrien Silva, Ronaldo, Guedes.

BREAKING…

17:48: Some breaking, albeit unsurprising news coming from the Argentina camp with Javier Mascherano announcing his international retirement.

I suspect this will be forgotten about fairly quickly should Lionel Messi make a decision on his future tonight.

SNAP!

17:45: It’s going to be 0-0, right? I know I said that Argentina vs France would be a goalless draw, but I really mean it this time.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Olly: Lionel Messi is a system player, can’t perform without a world class squad of players around him. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo carries his team every game.

Tim: Lionel Messi’s best friend Luis Suarez to end Cristiano Ronaldo’s World cup run tonight. You heard it here first!

Bash: Lionel Messi should just accept that there’s only one king in football and that’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

I’m starting to sense theme going on here…

ROASTING

17:42: I don’t know what temperature it is over in Sochi, but there’s no way that shambolic headgear is appropriate…

LIONEL MESSI…

17:40: Come on then, we’ve got to talk about Lionel Messi. I’m sure Cristiano Ronaldo was heartbroken to see him leave the competition…

Argentina have fallen short. Again. That means Messi has fallen short of adding a World Cup trophy to his collection. Again.

There are reports circulating that the Barcelona superstar’s international career may now be up.

The next Copa America is in 2019 but Messi may well decide not to play it.

HAVE YOUR SAY

17:35: If you want to vent your frustrations, or discuss any issues in the world of football (within reason), then get in touch!

You can either comment at the bottom of the page or contact me via Twitter using the hashtag #ExpressSport.

WELCOME

17:30: Hello everyone, welcome to our LIVE coverage of the World Cup.

The knockout stages started with a BANG as Kylian Mbappe scored two goals in four minutes to send France charging into the World Cup quarter-finals.

But who will join them?

Will it be Luis Suarez’s Uruguay or Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in what’s likely to be a gritty encounter tonight.

Uruguay have yet to concede a goal in Russia while Portugal only shipped one in their four knockout games at Euro 2016.

This one isn’t for the faint-hearted. Grab your gum shields, shin pads and goggles because we’re about to get started.