BRUNO FERNANDES happily gave Cristiano Ronaldo back his goal as Portugal sealed their last 16 place.
Ronaldo claimed the opener but officials decided he had not touched the cross by his former Manchester United team-mate.
Fernandes wrapped up victory with a late penalty and said: “I don’t think it really matters who scored.
“My feeling at the time was that Cristiano touched the ball. I was crossing to him. I celebrated as if it had been Cristiano’s goal.
“But what’s important is that we are able to go in the next round with an important win against a tough opponent.”
Portugal coach Fernando Santos bizarrely refused to answer direct questions about who had scored the first goal.
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Santos said: “It was a great match, our team played very well.
“The rest, for me, does not matter.
“It was a deserved victory. The team did what it said it would. We’re through to the next round.”
Uruguay must now win their grudge match against Ghana in order to reach the knockout stages.
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The Black Stars will be seeking revenge for their quarter-final defeat in 2010 when Luis Suarez stopped a certain goal with his hand, the resulting penalty was missed and the African nation lost the later shootout.
But Uruguay boss Diego Alonso, whose side are yet to score in the tournament, said: “It will be a crucial game but it has nothing to do with what happened 12 years ago.
“We will go all out so that we get the victory and we qualify.
“We need to gamble more. We need to be bold.”
When asked about the pitch invader supporting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, women in Iran and Ukraine, Fernandes added: “As we have said before, we respect all human rights.
“But these are unfortunately issues that we don’t have much power.
“We can’t really change anything.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
