On the first day of the FIFA World Cup Round of 16, Lionel Messi led Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal brushed aside in the Round of 16 on Saturday, with France and Uruguay confirming the quarter final berths.
Kylian Mbappe's double blow at an interval of just four minutes and goals from Antoine Griezmann and Benjamin Pavard brought Argentina's morale down as the world favourite were beaten by France 4-3 in a classic round of 16 encounter of the ongoing 21st edition of the football World Cup at the Kazan Arena.
However, fighting till the last minute, Angel di Maria, Gabriel Mercado and Sergio Aguero scored for Argentina.
Later, in the other pre quarterfinal, Portugal went down against Uruguay,
Uruguay forward Edison Cavani headed the opener in the 7th minute, before Pepe made things square early in the second half. Cavani, then, sealed it for Uruguay with a stunning strike that curled past Rui Patricio in the 62nd minute at the Fisht Olympic Stadium.
With this victory, Uruguay earned a unique distinction of winning four matches in a row in the World Cup since the tournament's inception in 1930.
Uruguay will now lock horns with France, who earlier defeated Argentina 4-3 in their round of 16 match, at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod on July 06.
