Uruguay, meanwhile, sent Messi’s great club rival in Spain Cristiano Ronaldo home as Edinson Cavani struck twice to seal a 2-1 win over Portugal to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final clash
The 2 nations have met 6 times before, with France yet to win a game. Uruguay has won twice, with 4 draws shared.
Didier Deschamps’ full-back resources may be further depleted after Monaco man Djibril Sidibe reportedly limped out of training on Monday morning.
The France coach had already been unable to call upon Benjamin Mendy for the round of 16 win over Argentina and the Manchester City man is understood not to have trained the day after that fixture either.
Les Bleus will be also without the suspended Juventus midfielder Blaise Matuidi after he picked up his second yellow card of the tournament against Argentina.
Uruguay, with their resolute team spirit and defensive strength, take on France, and their generation of attacking stars and individual brilliance, in the first quarter-final in Nizhny Novgorod.
Uruguay eased through the group stage with victories over Egypt, Saudi Arabia and host nation Russia to top Group A without conceding a single goal. The two-time champions (1930, 1950) dispatched Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the Last 16, with two goals from Edinson Cavani, who is an injury doubt for the clash with France.
In contrast France started slowly in the group stage with narrow victories over Australia and Peru before drawing with Denmark. The 1998 champions sparked into life against Lionel Messi’s Argentina, with one of the youngest players in the tournament, PSG’s €180m teenage sensation Kylian Mpabbe, scoring twice.
The teams have met 8 times before, Uruguay securing three victories most recently in 2013 with France winning just once.
Possible lineups
Uruguay XI: Muslera, Caceres, Gimenez, Godin, Laxalt, Nandez, Torreira, Vecino, Rodriguez, Bentancur, Suarez
France XI: Lloris, Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez, Kante, Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, Matuidi, Giroud
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