Luay Ahmed
Portugal started the match brightly and had their first effort in the 3rd minute when Cristiano Ronaldo cleverly used his shoulder to direct the ball to the path of Leao, whose volley sailed over the bar.
Ronaldo was again involved a few minutes later, nodding the ball down to Bruno Fernandes who’s low shot from distance sailed wide.
Portugal had the better of the opportunities in the opening 20 minutes, but Rodrigo Bentancur reminded the Portuguese of the threat that Uruguay pose, with a darting run in the 30th minute, which saw him dribble past multiple Portuguese players before forcing a save from Diego Costa.
The teams headed into the break level, with Portugal looking the more likely side to score.
The Portuguese started the second half strongly, with Joao Felix hitting the side netting after a Bernardo Silva through ball played him through on goal 5 minutes into the half.
The breakthrough for Portugal came one minute later, when a Bruno Fernandes cross sailed into the goal after a jump from Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to wrong foot the Uruguayan goalkeeper.
A spell of end to end football ensued, with Darwin Nunez, Gonzalez and Suarez all coming close with dangerous efforts at the Portuguese end of the field. Uruguay’s best chance fell to Arrascaeta, who was played through by a beautiful Valverde through ball. The forward attempted a weak lob which Diego Costa saved easily to keep his team in the lead.
With 90 minutes played, Bruno Fernandes received the ball at the edge of the Uruguayan penalty area and nutmegged Gimenez who handled the ball as he attempted a sliding tackle. The referee reviewed the incident at the VAR monitor and deemed the handball a penalty. Bruno Fernandes stepped up and coolly slotted the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the match.
As added time came to a close, Fernandes twice had the opportunity to complete his hat trick. The first opportunity a far post volley which was saved by the goalkeeper, and the second a powerful drive which cannoned off the post shortly before the referee blew the full time whistle.