ESPN News Service2 min read
Luis Suarez returned to Uruguay’s national team on Monday for two South American World Cup qualifiers, one of which comes against Lionel Messi in Argentina.
The 36-year-old Gremio forward is one of the Brazilian league’s top scorers with 14 goals in 29 games and his side will play in Buenos Aires on Thursday and Host against Bolivia five days later.
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World Cup champion Argentina leads the South American qualifiers with 12 points. Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela are in second place with seven points each from four games.
The match will pit former Barcelona team-mates Messi and Suarez against each other ahead of their upcoming matches at MLS side Inter Miami next season.
Gremio coach Renato Gaucho confirmed that Suarez will leave the Porto Alegre-based club at the end of Brazil’s Serie A in December, despite the two-year contract he signed in December 2022 Only halfway through.
In early November, sources told ESPN that Suarez had agreed to a one-year contract with the option to extend for a second year in Miami, and the Uruguayan veteran only had to sign the contract to complete the transfer.
Fede Valverde was asked on Monday how he and his teammates would stop Messi in the upcoming South American qualifiers, with the Uruguay and Real Madrid star laughing and saying: “I don’t know how to stop Messi, I can never stop Messi.”
“I played a lot of games with him when he was at Barcelona and Casemiro (when he played for Madrid) was always able to deal with Leo. He has to be respected because he is the best in the world one of the players.”
Uruguay’s full squad:
goalkeeper: Sergio Lochte (International Team), Franco Israel (Sporting Lisbon), Santiago Mele (Barranquilla Junior Team)
Defenders: Ronald Araujo (Barcelona), Jose María Jimenez (Atletico Madrid), Sebastian Cáceres (USA), Matias Weiner (Sassuolo) ), Bruno Mendes (Corinthians), Guillermo Barrera (Flamengo), Matias Oliveira (Naples)
midfield: Manuel Ugarte (Paris Saint-Germain), Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspur), Federico Valverde (Real Madrid), Felipe Caballo (Gremio) ), Agustín Canobbio (Atletico Paraná), Nicolas de la Cruz (River Plate), Giorgio de Alacaeta (Flamengo)), Faccon Do Pellistri (Manchester United), Maximiliano Araujo (Toluca), Facundo Torres (Orlando City)
forward: Christian Oliveira (LAFC), Federico Viñas (Leon), Darwin Nunez (Liverpool), Luis Suarez (Gremio)
This report used information from The Associated Press.