Former Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani took his frustration out on the pitchside VAR monitor after Uruguay's gut-wrenching exit from the World Cup on Friday evening.
After failing to win each of their opening two games, the South American outfit faced an uphill struggle to join Portugal in advancing to the knockout stages of the competition. They knew that a victory in their concluding Group H fixture against Ghana, so long as South Korea failed to beat Portugal, would be enough to see them keep their World Cup dream alive.
But despite two first-half goals from Giorgio de Arrascaeta to secure a 2-0 win, it was not enough for Uruguay to stay in the tournament. South Korea struck a 91st-minute winner to seal a shock 2-1 victory over Portugal, bagging them second place in the group ahead of Uruguay on goals scored. South Korea scored four times in the group stages compared to Uruguay's tally of two.
READ MORE: Erik ten Hag has an important United question to answer amid Joao Felix links
Uruguay's players were understandably distraught at the news of South Korea's last-gasp winner, meaning emotions ran high throughout the squad following the full-time whistle. Several members of the squad surrounded referee Daniel Siebert following the conclusion of the contest, protesting that they should have been awarded a penalty for an earlier foul on Darwin Nunez.
Former United man Cavani, who had stepped off the bench during the second half to replace Luis Suarez, was so frustrated with the outcome that he, as he made his way back towards the mouth of the players' tunnel, pushed the VAR monitor to the ground. Video footage captured by fans inside the stadium showed the Valencia man push it with his right hand, forcing members of his team to turn around and find out what the noise of the bang was.
FIFA officials stood looking at the VAR monitor on the ground but did not choose to pick it up in the footage captured and shared on social media. It is unclear whether any damage was done to the monitor.
Considering Cavani turns 36 in February, this year's World Cup was always likely to be the last of his career, meaning he will be bitterly disappointed to have exited the tournament, along with the rest of the squad, at such an early stage. It is the first time that the South American outfit have crashed out of the World Cup at the group stages since 2002. They reached the quarter-finals in Russia four years ago and went as far as the semi-finals back in 2010.
Cavani, although he did not score in this tournament, has netted five goals at the World Cup finals during his career. He scored three times in Russia in 2018.
READ NEXT:
