Last night, Facundo Pellistri had the best game of his career wearing a Uruguay jersey, scoring his first goal and dishing up an assist in an excellent 4-0 friendly victory over Mexico.
This summer, La Celeste will compete in the COPA America, where their group will compete against Bolivia, Panama, and the United States.
Uruguay dominated Mexico in the first half of their friendly match Sunday night, scoring three goals, and adding a fourth just as the half ended in the 49th minute.
Despite having 45% of the ball for the whole of the game, Uruguay actually had less shots on goal than the other team.
Pellistri, who was on loan in Spain for the second half of the season, not only scored his first goal for his country but also set up Darwin Nunez’s third goal of the game.
Pellistri received an outstanding 8.3 on Sofascore for his work. The United winger moved into a central position and scooped home a cross from the right to score his team’s second goal of the game.
The Mexican keeper took a direct hit on the ball, allowing it to wriggle beneath his body.
The quick right winger quickly changed roles, racing through the defence one-on-one in the 49th minute before coolly receiving the ball and squareing it across the goal for a thankful Nunez to tap in for his hat-trick.
With 32 ball touches and 11 of 15 passes completed, the 22-year-old had a 73% success rate. For the full ninety minutes, he was a pain in the Mexican’s side in addition to his goal and assist. He also had one shot saved.
Pellistri, who made three of his four dribble attempts, was another dangerous player down the right side.
Six of his fourteen ground fights and all of his aerial duels were victories. The winger made two tackles during the game to aid with defence as well.
It will serve as a timely reminder to United’s decision-makers that Pellistri can bring something special to the team on his best days and may even be worthy of a full season at Old Trafford to demonstrate his abilities.
The next time Marco Bielsa’s team plays is on Monday, June 24 (UK time), when they take on Bolivia in their COPA America opener.
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