Uruguay have earned safe passage into the knockout rounds of the Copa America, with their win over Paraguay seeing them climb into second place in their group to avoid Brazil.

Rodrigo Bentancur played the full 90 minutes as his side climbed from fourth in the table, which would have seen them come up against the likes of Neymar, Alex Sandro and Danilo, up into second in the final match of the group stage, and will now take on Group A strugglers Colombia.

The competition will now enter into the quarter-final stages, with Urugay v Colombia alongside Chile v Brazil ranking as the ties to watch of the next round on paper, although the Samba stars will likely rank as clear favourites having impressed most during the previous round.

Rodrigo was left out of the starting line-up for their previous match, on the eve of his birthday, but he was given a starring role in yesterday’s crunch encounter, with a win firmly set in their sights, and he didn’t disappoint, picking up the Man of the Match award.

Will Rodrigo begin the new season as a key player under Max Allegri?

Patrick