'He has to' - Luis Suarez shares what he privately told Liverpool star last month

Luis Suarez has backed Darwin Nunez to come back stronger after the Liverpool forward was slapped with a hefty international suspension.

Nunez is currently serving a five-match ban for Uruguay. It came in the aftermath of Nunez being involved in a heated altercation in the stands following his country’s loss to Colombia in the Copa America semi-finals in July. Nunez was also given a $20,000 fine.

It means that the 25-year-old will not feature in Suarez’s final game for Uruguay against Paraguay on Saturday. The former Liverpool and Barcelona striker is bringing the curtain down on his international career, having scored 69 goals in 142 games. Nunez will also miss matches against Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia before returning against Brazil on 19 November.

Suarez knows more than most about having to spend time on the sidelines. He was banned for eight matches after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra in December 2012 and a 10-match suspension for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in April 2013.

And Suarez has insisted that Nunez must show his display mental strength and prove his critics wrong. Via ESPN, Suarez said: “I already spoke with Darwin when he was sanctioned in England. 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.”

Nunez joined Liverpool from Benfica in 2022 for a fee that could reach a club-record £85 million. He’s made a total of 98 appearances, scoring 33 goals. So far this season, Nunez has had to be patient and came off the bench in wins over Brentford and Manchester United.