Lucas Torreira impresses despite poor Uruguay defeat | OneFootball

Lucas Torreira impressed as the final Arsenal participant in this international break, despite Uruguay’s damaging defeat on Friday.

Lucas Torreira – 11/09/2021 – Serie A / Atalanta-Fiorentina / Photo by Daniele Buffa

With most of the Arsenal squad concluding their international commitments a few days ago, Lucas Torreira and Uruguay had a World Cup qualifier against Brazil in the early hours of Friday morning.

Torreira wasn’t named in the starting lineup for Uruguay, but he ended up coming on for the full second half. By that point, his side were already 2-0 down.

Unfortunately, Uruguay didn’t particularly improve in the second half. They conceded two further goals, and a Luis Suarez finish in the 77th minute only served as a consolation as they lost 4-1.

But Torreira was one of very few bright spots from the match. The Arsenal loanee hardly put a foot wrong, and that was reflected in some impressive statistics.

The midfielder completed 93% of his passes and all four of his long balls, he completed his only attempted dribble and won 10 of his 11 individual duels. He won three free-kicks without making a foul, and he made six tackles and two interceptions.

Those statistics would be impressive for a full 90, let alone 45 minutes. Across the whole match, no outfield Uruguayan completed more long passes, won more duels, or made more tackles than Torreira.

It’s just a shame the rest of the team were so poor on the day. The heavy defeat leaves Uruguay clinging on to a World Cup qualification play-off spot, just three points ahead of Chile and at risk of dropping out of the qualification places entirely.

From an Arsenal point of view, it’s more important that Torreira is playing well. He just needs to carry that form back to Fiorentina and get starting matches regularly.