World Cup 2022: Cristiano Ronaldo should have been awarded goal, says Bruno Fernandes – ‘Cristiano touched the ball’

Portugal were being held by a stubborn Uruguay nine minutes into the second half of the Group H tie, when Fernandes drifted a cross in from the left towards Ronaldo.

Ronaldo, having broken the offside trap, rose to meet it with the ball nestling into the far corner, sparking a fervent celebration from the ex-Manchester United forward.

Fernandes, however, saw it the other way.

“I don’t think it really matters who scored the goal at this point,” Fernandes, who got a second from the spot late on, said.

“The feeling I had at the time was that Cristiano touched the ball. I was passing the ball to him.

“But the important thing was that we won tonight against a very tough opponent.

“The importance of us being first in the group includes us winning the next game, which would allow us to come out of the group undefeated. That is what we want.

“We have a very organised team ahead of us on Friday, and our objective is to take it match by match.”

With their victory, Portugal made it two wins from two in their group, in so doing qualifying for the knockout stages.

They will face the runners-up from Group G, which is likely to be one of Switzerland or Serbia.

Uruguay, meanwhile, will need a win over Ghana in their final group game should they hope to progress to the knockouts.

Their boss Diego Alonso felt they weren’t clinical enough with their opportunities, as his team eye a “crucial” rematch of the hugely controversial 2010 World Cup encounter with the Black Stars that saw Uruguay prevail.

“We will be going all out for victory. It is a crucial game,” Alonso said.

“We improved in the second half today. Portugal owned the ball before that, and that pressure had some effect.

“Sometimes, things don’t work out. We had 11 chances, according to the statistics.”