Gary Neville praises Uruguay central defenders after win over Portugal

Ex-Manchester United defender Gary Neville has hailed José Giménez and Diego Godin after their performance prevented Cristiano Ronaldo from scoring in Uruguay's win over Portugal in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Uruguay defeated Portugal by two goals to one in the round of sixteen tie on Saturday to advance to the quarter-final of the competition.

Edison Cavani opened the scoring in the seventh minute before Pepe equalised for the Portuguese in the 55th minute. Cavani came back in the 62nd minute to win the game for the two time world champions with a well placed finish.

Uruguay will now face France who defeated Argentina by four goals to three to advance.

“The two centre-backs played well against Cristiano Ronaldo tonight but everything that came into that box they had to clear. They will have to do that against France," he said, reports BBC.

Ronaldo's lack of goals in the game means that the Real Madrid man has never scored in the knockout stages of any World Cup he has ever played in.