Suárez defies age and dodgy knees to set up PSG clash dripping in narrative

In December 2023, shortly before signing for Grêmio, Luis Suárez warned that his footballing days were numbered. His right knee had become so painful, following a Covid-affected rehabilitation from surgery in 2020, that he could barely walk. “In my last stage of recovery, the pandemic came and I had to do exercises on my own and I couldn’t finish stretching my knee,” he told Uruguayan media. “On the inside I have cartilage wear and that hits the bone. The days before each game I take three pills and hours before playing I get an injection. If not, I can’t play. Hence the limp. I have to think that in maybe five years I won’t be able to play five-a-side football with my friends. The truth is that the first steps in the morning are very painful. Anyone who sees me thinks that it is impossible for me to play a game. My son asks me to play with him and I can’t.”

Suárez has always been a divisive figure throughout his storied career, with incidents that have wildly swung between the sublime and the repugnant, but most – excluding David Luiz, the nation of Ghana, Patrice Evra, Branislav Ivanovic, Giorgio Chiellini (11 years to the day!) and Norwich City – will agree that it is a good and remarkable thing that the striker is still playing football. Just how he is doing so for Inter Miami, 18 months on from his above comments, is baffling, particularly as 38-year-old Suárez is not only just hacking it around with his friends or his son, but still scoring absolute worldies on the biggest club stage of all [subs, pls check]: the Copa Gianni.

Just in case you didn’t stay up until 2am (BST) to watch Inter Miami 2-2 Palmeiras, Suárez rolled back the years in putting the MLS side 2-0 up, beating two men with a wily turn, sending Palmeiras centre-back Bruno Fuchs to the shops with a textbook chop, before El Pistolero fired brilliantly into the top bins with his “weaker” left foot. Whatever you might think about Suárez, the Copa Gianni in general or the notion that Inter Miami should even be at the tournament, it was a goal for the ages and one that ultimately secured Miami’s passage to the knockouts.

Miami’s reward for coming through the group stage, or punishment for allowing Palmeiras to draw 2-2 and top the group, is a last-16 meeting with PSG, the rampant Bigger Cup champions who probably don’t need extra motivation to play well at the moment. But Lionel Messi’s acrimonious 2023 departure from the French club (where the Argentinian later admitted he “wasn’t happy on a daily basis”) and the heavy presence of four other former Barcelona players in Miami’s squad – manager Javier Mascherano, Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, who all took part in La Remontada, the 6-1 (6-5 agg) Big Cup comeback, and PSG’s most infamous defeat – means Sunday’s match is one that is now dripping in narrative. That current PSG boss Luis Enrique was manager of Barça that night at Camp Nou only adds to the intrigue.

“We’ll be facing the [Bigger Cup] champions and we will have to try and take our chances,” yelped Suárez after his heroics against Palmeiras. “Luis Enrique has seen many players and he influenced me a lot. I already had a competitive DNA but he made me even more competitive.” Slightly less helpfully, Mascherano was a little more forthright: “[PSG] are probably better than us, but in football you never know.” Spine-tingling stuff, Javier! So, while that rhetoric doesn’t quite match the pre-battle war-cries from Braveheart, Any Given Sunday and 300, Mascherano, Messi, Suárez, Alba and Busquets will have one more shot at toppling the elite. One would think they don’t have a hope against the might of PSG, but then we didn’t think Suárez would be kicking a football at all in 2025, and you only need to check last night’s highlights to see how that theory panned out.

It is almost impossible to train or to make a session because of the weather. This morning’s session has been very, very, very short. Tomorrow will be our 60th game of the season. The ones who had international games had even more” – Enzo Maresca wipes his brow before trying to express the difficulty and danger involved in organising Chelsea sessions with shattered players in egg-frying 41C heat at Copa Gianni.

Dear Football Daily, the assertion that Jude and Jobe Bellingham became the first brothers to score in the same tournament (yesterday’s Football Daily) is untrue. I expect there may be other examples, but Frank and Ronald de Boer both scored for the Netherlands in Euro 2000” – Thomas Lovegrove.

I’m sceptical about this weird Copa Gianni but some of the matchups have been entertaining. My favourite goalkeeper so far is Botafogo’s. While Atlético Madrid busied themselves writing their ‘Dear John’ farewell letter to the tournament, he came off his line to steamroller an opponent and a teammate before punching the ball away, recovered to block the follow-up shot from point-blank range, tossed the dead ball behind his back, beyond the reach of an incensed opponent, then theatrically threw himself to the ground when said incensed player bumped him. Dear John, never change” – Peter Oh.

The trailer for the new film about Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy at the 2002 World Cup, with someone who looks nothing like Roy Keane and someone else (Steve Coogan) who looks nothing like Mick McCarthy, appears to be as rubbish as you might expect. It won’t beat the lowest grossing film in US history obviously” – Noble Francis.

Please send your letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day competition is … Peter Oh. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here. 

It’s our man David Squires on … making Transylvania great again. Oh yes, you’re going to like this.

21 June: “There was a severe lack of energy, real flatness, severe lack of quality and you are going to get nowhere. I would say I prepared better than some players … how motivated are you as a player, as a team? Should the manager have to lead everything? Some days I’m on my knees because it’s my energy and they suck it. No, it’s your inward motivation. What have you got, guys? How much do you want to defend that title? You won it last year; well done, it’s forgotten. It is still me driving me, it’s still me, Joe, the two voices you could hear today, who were they? Me and Joe [O’Brien]. Anyone else? No. This [League of Ireland Premier Division) is your bread and butter. They are in Europe, in [Bigger Cup], because of the league. I said it’s 18 days until [Bigger Cup], and I said if they’d have a [Bigger Cup] mentality, motivation, energy here. I’d say pub teams have better motivation, energy, quality than us. Damning words, but I’m correct in saying them” – Shelbourne boss Damien Duff tears into his players and demands more commitment from them after a 1-0 loss to Derry.

22 June: “Damien informed the club this morning that, after much thought, he has made the decision to resign. He shared the news with the players earlier today” – Duff reveals his own level of commitment by seeing himself through the door marked Do One amid links with a position on the coaching staff with Brentford.

Fifa is considering its options for Iran at the Geopolitics World Cup due to the conflict with co-hosts USA USA USA.

PSG boss Luis Enrique is hopping mad at the state of the turf at Seattle Lumen Field after his side’s 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders. “The ball bounces almost like if it were jumping around like a rabbit,” he barked. “I wouldn’t imagine a NBA court full of holes … it used to be artificial turf and now it is natural grass and they have to water it by hand – they did so at half-time but the field was dry again in 10 minutes.”

Atlético Madrid players will be delighted/gutted after being knocked out of Copa Gianni despite beating Botafogo 1-0 to finish Group A with two wins. “Getting six points in the group was not bad,” sniffed Diego Simeone. “But we were doomed by the [4-0 shellacking] against PSG.”

Heartthrob Edwards has been busy with the razor before checking in at Middlesbrough on a three-year-deal. “It felt instantly that this was right for me and it got me excited,” he cooed.

Newcastle are back in the hunt for Burnley and England goalkeeper James Trafford … and they hope £40m will ease him away from Turf Moor.

Manchester United have increased their offer for Bryan Mbeumo to £60m but Brentford want £65m before they will let go of the man with the best beard in football.

And Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds has paid tribute to Paul Mullin after the striker joined Wigan on loan. “I can’t imagine seeing Mulls on loan and in another kit,” sighed Reynolds after Mullin was sent on loan and into another kit. “We wouldn’t be where we are without his heart, skill and work ethic.”

The USA USA USA’s domestic-heavy roster can benefit Emma Hayes’s World Cup yearning, writes Megan Swanick in the latest edition of our sister email.

Our Euro 2025 team guides keep on coming. Today we have Norway and hosts Switzerland.

Golden boy Liam Delap’s route to the top with Chelsea has seemed inevitable but there is still room for uncut gem Nicolas Jackson to thrive, writes Jonathan Liew.

The show about retro football, Nessun Dorma, is back with a Homeric series on how the sport evolved at the end of the 20th century.

The Rumour Mill has all the latest transfer fluff, including the possibility of a blockbuster swap involving Alejandro Garnacho and Christopher Nkunku.

And check out all the latest men’s and women’s moves in the summer window.

5 August 1992: We’re not sure whose idea it was to wedge a ball between the heads of John Jensen and Anders Limpar as they were presented as new Arsenal players before the inaugural Premier League season. Nice football, though. It’s the Adidas Etrusco Unico, used at Euro 92 where Jensen had just helped Denmark lift the trophy.