Cristiano Ronaldo walked Edinson Cavani out of this game, helping the Uruguayan to the touchline, but not before Cavani scored the goals that put Portugal out of the World Cup.

Cavani departed with 20 minutes remaining, slowly making his way around the edge of the pitch, limping slightly, a lost look on his face after he felt a pain in his calf that prevented him from continuing. Two superb strikes took Uruguay through to the quarter-finals but, while the striker said he hoped that it was nothing, he departed the stadium hobbling and there are doubts now that he will be with them when they face France in Nizhny Novgorod on Friday.

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Twenty minutes after Cavani departed it was Ronaldo who looked lost: his World Cup is over and he would not be drawn after the match on whether he will continue with Portugal, though the manager Fernando Santos expressed the hope that he will. “There is a tournament in September, the Uefa League of Nations, and we hope that he is with us so that he can help the young players who will need their captain’s example,” Santos said.

As the final seconds ticked away Portugal threw everything they could at this, the goalkeeper Rui Patrício sent forward and almost heading goalwards, the Portuguese bench leaping with every tackle and tumble, calling for the VAR to rescue them. But in the end it could not. Cavani had gone but he brought delight to a resilient and often impressive Uruguay, built on solidarity and skill, whose manager Óscar Tabárez talked afterwards about their “absolute commitment”. France will not welcome playing them even if Cavani is absent – without him Luis Suárez occupied an entire defence alone.

It was that kind of night and it ended with supporters in blue and white singing. It had begun with a goal that was genuinely breathtaking: brutal in its beauty, beautiful in its brutality – a 100‑yard one-two taking them from halfway line to byline, the ball twice smashed high, hard and with incredible precision diagonally from one side of the pitch to the other and back before it flew into the net.

Rodrigo Betancur turned neatly, setting the ball rolling, the play spread to the right for Cavani. His strike partner Suárez was almost the entire width of the pitch away, but while they were distanced they came together once again – the story of their footballing lives. Born a month apart in Salto, population 104,000, Suárez left for Montevideo at seven and they did not know each other until they met at 19 but they have played together almost ever since, 207 Uruguay caps between them. Here they did so to devastating and dramatic effect.

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Cavani drove a long diagonal across towards the left for Suárez that could be heard from the stands. Suárez controlled, ran at Ricardo, cut inside and sent it back again. From beyond the top corner of the box he bent a vicious, superb ball in a fast, long arc to the far post where Cavani was running in. It might have hit Cavani on the shoulder or the face but the result was perfect, the ball rocketing in.

It was a superb start, despite the fact that the first two attempts on goal had been Portugal’s, Bernardo Silva heading over and Ronaldo shooting sharply in a game that had begun as might have been predicted, Cavani unlucky to be penalised as he turned Pepe and then Diego Godín pushing over the Portugal defender while they waited for a corner, though with the ball not in play that one was free. Others would be too, the referee seemingly reluctant to pull out cards.

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Next, José Fonte headed over and Ronaldo had a shot blocked, but Uruguay appeared reasonably comfortable. There were crosses in, but mostly they were just headed out again. And if Godín and Giménez did not get to them, Fernando Muslera did, advancing from his line. There was sharpness when they sprung too, Betancur offering clarity, Martín Cáceres overlapping, Suárez looking sharp. And just before half-time, Cavani brought down Godín’s wild hoof inside the area, but scuffed his shot past the near post.

The game soon reopened. Bernardo Silva’s ball in was flicked back to Adrien Silva. His shot was blocked but from the corner, taken short and eventually delivered by Raphaël Guerreiro, Pepe leapt behind Ronaldo and Godín to head the equaliser.

Having conceded their first goal in 2018, Uruguay were under pressure now, unable to get out until a long ball released them and put them ahead once more. Thumped forward by Muslera, it dropped near the Portugal area and Betancur rolled it to Cavani who curled a wonderful shot first time into the corner. He departed not long after, leaving Uruguay with a lead and 20 minutes to protect it.

It was not going to be easy. Bernardo Silva offered a little more subtlety to what had previously been a more frontal attack, although he did hit the best opportunity over when the ball escaped the scrambling Muslera. His run on one side drew a corner and then, on the other side, Matías Vecino stood firm as Ronaldo dribbled into the area. There was tiredness and nerves. When Carlos Sánchez gave up possession, Ricardo Quaresma’s curling cross with the outside of his foot just evaded Ronaldo’s leap.

As the momentum built, Suárez became an island battling with Pepe but often beating him. And Portuguese chances were few: two long and inoffensive Manuel Fernandes shots and a sliced effort from Ronaldo way wide before Diego Laxalt dived to clear. Then, a long ball found Suárez again, alone against the world, who got away from three defenders and crossed to Cristian Rodríguez. His control escaped him, leaving more minutes of nerves, but Cavani’s two glorious goals would prove to be enough.