Suarez ruled out of Uruguay duty with knee injury

Luis Suarez will not feature for Uruguay in September’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers after suffering a knee injury against Villarreal on Sunday.

Suarez started for the first time of the new season for Atletico Madrid and equalised for Diego Simeone’s men to record his eighth goal involvement in 13 games against Villarreal.

However, the Atletico Madrid forward was forced off 14 minutes later after appearing to have discomfort in his left knee.

Following scans in Spain, Atletico Madrid have found a moderate swelling in Suarez’s knee.

They have now informed Uruguay that the 34-year-old will not be available for the World Cup qualifiers against Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

The former FC Barcelona forward is expected to undergo further treatment throughout the week.

It however remains unclear whether he will be fit enough to feature against Espanyol on Sept. 12.

Fortunately for the La Liga champions, they acquired Matheus Cunha in late August and Angel Correa is in fine form, scoring three in his first three games of 2021/2022.

Uruguay, though, have not been so lucky.

Suarez’s injury further compounds Oscar Tabarez’s problems as he is left without two strikers for the qualifiers, with Edinson Cavani his other absentee.

Manchester United striker Cavani’s absence was confirmed on Monday, too.

Uruguay announced he would not be travelling to South America amid issues over quarantining on his return to Britain.