By Charlie Clayton
LIVERPOOL striker Luis Diaz scored twice as Colombia caused an emotional upset to beat Brazil in the Conmebol World Cup qualifiers.
And on a night of shocks, Uruguay inflicted World Champions Argentina’s first defeat since losing to Saudi Arabia in the 2022 World Cup.
Two second half goals from Liverpool forward Diaz in Barranquilla inflicted back to back defeats on five-time record World Cup champions Brazil in three days.
Just a fortnight ago, his parents were both kidnapped back in his hometown and have recently been freed by a Colombia guerrilla.
Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli broke the deadlock in the game by sliding in a cross from Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior.
Elsewhere, south of the continent, world champions Argentina were beaten for the first time since their opening game at the 2022 Qatar World Cup against Saudi Arabia.
This comes after neighbours Uruguay netted two goals in Buenos Aires.
Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo snuck in at the back post to put Uruguay into the lead with a low driven shot past Emiliano Martinez.
After the restart, Manuel Ugarte was seen taunting Rodrigo De Paul as the pair clashed on the pitch.
Later on Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez sealed all three points to crawl up to second in the table with a swift counter attack goal.
Elsewhere in qualifying, Chile and Paraguay played out an intense 0-0 draw in Santiago.
Towards the end of the first half, the visitors were reduced to 10 men after Robert Rojas was shown a straight red card for a stamp of Gabriel Suazo.
Meanwhile in the closing stages, the hosts also had a man sent off, Victor Mendez originally had a tackle on Andres Cubas unnoticed.
But was overturned by Fernando Andres Rapallini on VAR.
Following the results, Colombia leaped frogged their opponents Brazil into third place on nine points leaving Brazil on seven.
Uruguay climbed above Venezuela into second in the table, whilst Argentina stay at the top of the table on 12 points.
Both Chile and Paraguay remain in their positions on five points.
The top six in the table qualify straight into the group stages of the 2026 World Cup.
Seventh place will play an Inter-confederation play-off against teams from all across the globe with the winner advancing to the World Cup.
