Bentancur ready for Ronaldo reunion at World Cup

Rodrigo Bentancur is looking forward to locking horns with his former Juventus team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo when Uruguay take on Portugal in their second match at the World Cup tonight (Monday 28 November, 7pm UK).

In a rematch from the 2018 round of 16, when Uruguay ran out 2-1 winners, Rodrigo’s side find themselves in need of a victory to boost their chances of qualifying from Group H after their goalless draw with South Korea last week.

While the central midfielder is aware of all the threats Portugal possess, he was naturally drawn towards the prospect of facing Ronaldo – his colleague at Juve between 2018 and 2021 – when looking ahead to the game in Lusail.

“I had the chance to play against him at the World Cup in 2018. After that, he came to Juve and we had three years together there,” said Rodrigo of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

“We built a good rapport and he’s one of the greatest of all time, so it was an honour to play with him.

“Now the time has come and we’ll be up against each other as opponents. It’ll be a pleasure to face him on the pitch again, but we have our own targets and the most important thing is for us to win.

“As I’ve said before, it’s a really tough group, but we have our strengths and we’ll be focusing on our own game.”