BARCELONA teammates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will make a long-awaited return to World Cup duty this week when South America’s marathon qualifying competition for the 2018 finals in Russia resumes.

    Suarez has not kicked a ball for Uruguay since he was slapped with a global ban after chomping on the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

    Messi missed the opening four matches of Argentina’s 2018 qualifying campaign earlier this season after suffering a knee injury while on club duty for Barcelona in September.

    The five-time FIFA World Player of the Year could not be returning at a better time for Argentina, which faces a demanding trip to Santiago on Thursday to face reigning champion Chile in a rematch of the Copa America final.

    Argentina made a shaky start to qualifying, suffering a shock home defeat against Ecuador in October, before draws against Paraguay and Brazil.

    However the 2014 World Cup runner-up breathed life into its campaign with a 1-0 away win against Colombia in November, a crucial victory that lifted the side from near the bottom of the table to within striking distance of the automatic qualifying positions.

    Argentina will face a Chile side more or less at full strength, with Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal (suspension) the only significant absentee.

    Uruguay striker Suarez meanwhile is relishing the prospect of being reunited with his international teammates for the first time in nearly two years when La Celeste travel to Recife to take on Brazil on Friday.

    “Obviously after a long time without seeing them (Uruguay teammates and staff) it will be a strange feeling, but there is also the pleasure of seeing them all again. I haven’t seen them for nearly two years,” Suarez told Spanish newspaper El Pais in a recent interview.

    “There is pleasure and satisfaction that (the ban) is all over and now I can enjoy being with them again,” added the 29-year-old, who has scored 37 goals in all competitions for Barcelona this season.

    Suarez said Uruguay’s solid start to qualifying — three wins in four games — showed that the team was more than a one-man band.

    “I am quite calm because these days the national team works as a group, it is not about the individual,” he said.

    (SD-Agencies)