Nuno Mendes sustained a cut to the lip after being caught by Andreas Schjelderup, but Portugal looked more likely to deliver an early blow as Fredrik Aursnes blocked Francisco Conceicao’s attempt and Leo Ostigard had to make a great recovery tackle to halt Joao Felix.
Ostigard stopped Felix again by blocking his shot, before Vitinha sent an effort from range over, and Joao Cancelo’s venomous strike was tipped over the crossbar by Egil Selvik.
Norway hadn’t enjoyed many encouraging moments going forward in those opening stages, but Antonio Nusa offered a reminder of their quality with a wonderful curling effort that was tipped over by Diogo Costa.
The ultimate moment of quality came from an unlikely source, though, as Kristoffer Ajer controlled the ball from Martin Odegaard and sent a simply outrageous strike into the top corner with 36 minutes on the clock.
Unbelievably, Cancelo matched it within two minutes to equalise, as the full-back waited for Mendes’ long throw to reach him on the edge of the box and sent a sublime strike past Selvik.
Bruno Fernandes tried to conjure a spectacular shot of his own after the restart but missed the target, and Selvik then dived to ensure Cancelo’s latest eye-catching strike didn’t go in.
Erling Haaland finally had his first sight of goal around the hour mark but dragged his shot wide from a tight angle, before Vitinha’s attempt at the other end was deflected over by Patrick Berg’s outstretched boot and Renato Veiga headed over from the ensuing corner.
Ruben Neves fired wide when a flick off Ajer’s head took Fernandes’ corner towards him, but the Selecao took the lead in the 79th minute when Felix cushioned a square ball for Goncalo Ramos to poke it over the line.
Conceicao then talked his way into two quickfire bookings and was sent off, but Portugal held on to extend their unbeaten home record to 12 matches and go six points ahead at the top of Group A4, while Norway have now suffered three consecutive defeats and sit bottom.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Joao Felix (Portugal)