International striker Luis Suarez made his debut with his Nacional side on Tuesday when he came on as a substitute without losing 0-1 to his guest Atlético Guayanense in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Sud Americana football competition.
The 35-year-old Suarez came on for Franco Vagundes in the 74th minute, and his team fell behind with a Luis Fernando goal from the 23rd minute.
His performance, 17 years after his first appearance in the Nacional white shirt, was greeted with applause by about 30,000 spectators in Montevideo’s Grand Parc Central. Suárez, who has not played since last May, when he played in the final minutes of his former club’s match against Atlético Madrid in the Spanish league against Real Sociedad, had only one training session with Nacional on Monday.
However, coach Pablo Repetto decided to include him in the squad for the Copa Sud Americana competition, which is synonymous with Europa League competition on the old continent. On Sunday, the former Liverpool and Barcelona striker, when he had just arrived in Uruguay, was greatly greeted during his brief performance at Estadio Nacional’s Grand Park Central, where he came to talk to his fans. Suarez is considered the best goalscorer in Uruguay history with 65 goals. He started his career at Nacional in 2005 at the age of 18 before going a long way that took him to Ajax Amsterdam (111 goals in 159 games), Liverpool in 2011 and Barcelona in 2015. .
