Suarez: club rivalry pushed aside when taking on Ronaldo, Spain

SOCHI, Russia — Luis Suarez believes any rivalry he may have with Cristiano Ronaldo is limited just to their club teams playing the past four years against each other in La Liga.

In other words, it won’t be Suarez versus Ronaldo when Uruguay and Portugal meet in the World Cup round of 16 on today, it’ll be team against team.

“When it comes to the rivalry with Ronaldo at club level that’s a different thing all together,” Suarez said Friday. “This is a World Cup and of course we’re all defending and we’re all working for our national teams, and that’s the essential aspect. And everybody will try and give their utmost [today] as to prevail.”

While Suarez seemed to play down or avoid questions about Ronaldo, it’s clear Uruguay must continue to have the tightest defence in the tournament to keep Ronaldo and others under control. Ronaldo scored four goals in Portugal’s first two group stage matches. Uruguay is the only team that didn’t concede a goal in the first round — in a group containing Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez was complimentary of Ronaldo and the rest of the Portugal squad, noting several times Uruguay will be facing the reigning champions of Europe. But he also admitted it’ll be a group effort trying to slow down Portugal’s star.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best strikers in the world,” Tabarez said. “He has a great potential obviously and in planning the match, especially focusing on the opponent and considering the level that every player has . . . what Ronaldo has on top of the qualities is that he’s the leader of that team. That is an additional factor. There is not a single player that can contain him there. Not just [Diego] Godin. We will have to work collectively in order to try and contain him or in order to try and limit the effect he can have.”

One player who could significantly help Uruguay in trying to contain Ronaldo is defender Jose Maria Gimenez, who missed the group stage finale with a thigh injury. Gimenez returned to training this week for Uruguay, but Tabarez wouldn’t respond to questions about his selection in the team.