The right-sided forward was in the perfect place to head home from close range after the ball scrappily bounced around the Italian box with no defender able to clear.

It was a story of redemption for Rodríguez at the tournament in Argentina as he returned for the final at Estadio Único Diego Armando Maradona in La Plata after serving a two-game suspension.

Rodriguez was sent off in the round-of-16 victory over Gambia after elbowing an opponent, meaning he missed the quarter and semi-finals, but he returned to strike when it really mattered.

His goal came just three minutes after Matteo Prati was sent off for Italy, only for the video assistant referee to downgrade the decision to a yellow card.

Prati went in high on Fabricio Diaz but survived after the additional check.

Uruguay, the first winners of the senior FIFA World Cup in 1930, had played in two under-20 finals before and lost both.

The country suspended today's league fixtures in the Uruguayan Primera División so fans could watch the final and a crowd of 38,297 joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the stadium to watch in person.

"This is crazy, crazy, crazy and we deserve it," Rodríguez said.

"We are living a dream."

Uruguay remarkably won the tournament without conceding a goal in the knock-out rounds.

They only conceded three goals in total, all against England who beat them 3-2 in the group stage.

Italy's Cesare Casadei ended with the golden boot with seven goals as he failed to add to his tally in the final.

Earlier in the day, Israel beat South Korea 3-1 for bronze.

Argentina stepped in to host the tournament at short notice after Indonesia was stripped of the rights in March after objections to Israel competing.