Darwin Nunez's new controversy in Uruguay

Darwin Nunez will wear the number 9 shirt of the Uruguay national team in the first two games of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup against Chile and Ecuador, a mission he has already informed the historic striker Luis Suarez, who was not called up by Marcelo Bielsa. The Liverpool striker told the press after arriving in his country: "I spoke to Suarez and told him that I wanted to play with the 9, that I was going to try to do my best as he did with the national team," said Nunez, who added that he greatly admires the current Gremio player and that he helped him a lot during the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

He added that in that conversation Suarez told him to be calm and asked him to represent well the dorsal that he used in almost all the games in which he defended the Celeste. "If it's his turn to come back, obviously the nine is his," said Nunez, while stressing that the important thing is not to score goals, but to seal a good game for Uruguay to get three points.

The striker said that he is in a good moment after a good pre-season, scoring two goals in the 15 minutes he played against Newcastle United for the third day of the local league and being a starter in the last game. He highlighted the fact that Bielsa's 25-man squad includes a lot of young players and only one player over 30.

"I think there are quite a few young players now. Marcelo is betting on the younger players and we are going to try to do our best, to represent the Uruguayan national team as the previous players represented it and try to give joy to all of Uruguay," he said.