Luis Suarez has revealed what he told Darwin Nunez after the Liverpool striker was handed a five-game international ban. The 25-year-old was sanctioned by CONMEBOL after confronting supporters following Uruguay’s semi-final defeat to Colombia at this summer’s Copa America.
Nunez has been forced to miss the September international break as a result after the start of his suspension, and will sit out 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Venezuela.
This means he will also miss Suarez’s last ever international appearance after the former Liverpool striker confirmed his retirement from Uruguay duty at an emotional press conference earlier this week.
Suarez was asked about Nunez at the aforementioned press conference, and he shared his advice for the Reds star as he confirmed that he had already spoken to his fellow striker after his suspension was confirmed.
“I already spoke with Darwin when he was sanctioned in England,” he said. “Sometimes people enjoy it more when you are on the ground and fall, but people feel more pain when you get back up.
“And that is what he has to do: get up and continue to show the kind of player he is. That is where you see the great players and the mental strength he has to have to show those people that they like to see him on the ground.”
Meanwhile, Suarez also shared his sadness that Nunez and his fellow suspended players would be unable to play in the striker’s final international appearance for Uruguay.
“It is not an easy moment that they must be going through, these are complicated moments,” he said. “I have spoken with some of them and unfortunately they cannot be here, for something so important for me.
“I’ve been with all of them for many years in the national team and I would have liked them to be here on Friday, but that’s football and they’ve sent me their messages, and they know that it’s a difficult time for me to make that decision.”
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Suarez has made 142 international appearances for Uruguay to date, scoring 69 goals, with his international highlight being winning the Copa America in 2011 when still a Liverpool player.
He has made 13 appearances alongside Nunez during the pair’s overlapping international careers, while they have been named in the same matchday squad on 23 occasions.
Nunez inevitably considers Suarez as his boyhood hero, and paid his own emotional tribute to the veteran after he announced his international retirement earlier this week.
“You are huge Luis Suarez,” he wrote. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did for me in the National Team.
“You were my idol without knowing you and you are even more so now that I know you. As you said, you came as a child and you leave as a legend, it is everyone’s dream and you fulfilled it.”
