Tottenham star Rodrigo Bentancur slammed by Uruguayan media in Saudi Arabia draw

Tottenham Hotspur's Rodrigo Bentancur and Uruguay did not have the World Cup opening match they had hoped for.

As the South American side geared up to take on Saudi Arabia in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Sky Blue were the clear favourites to come out as victors.

However, the Middle Eastern nation were not going down without a fight.

Just before half-time, it was Saudi Arabia who opened the scoring, with Bentancur not being in the best of light for that moment.

Uruguay would eventually pull a goal back in the final 10 minutes, but it was too late to push for another.

Bentancur will certainly be disappointed with the result, and it seems his nation has the same feeling about his performance.

What has the Uruguayan media said about Rodrigo Bentancur?

Bentancur is a key player for both Tottenham and Uruguay, so it was no surprise to see him start in the opening World Cup game for the Sky Blues.

However, there could now be pushback over him starting in the upcoming fixtures based on the reaction in the media.

For Saudi Arabia's goal, Bentancur was the man beaten to a header as Uruguay went 1-0 down.

The Uruguayan media have picked up on that and have given their verdicts.

Montevideo Portal have not handed out a match rating but stated: "He tried to orchestrate the attack with his skilful passing. He delivered a ball that almost led to a goal by Vinas, but he looked somewhat slow.

"He was clearly responsible for the Saudi Arabian goal when, from the corner - Al Khaibari outjumped him to head the ball home. With Valverde playing closer, when he moved into midfield, his contribution to the game improved, but he was still far from the player we all know."

Meanwhile, El Observador has handed him a five out of 10, stating: "The linchpin of the midfield, especially when he took charge with the ball. He had some good link-up play with Federico Valverde.

"He escaped a yellow card for a foul from behind on the edge of the box. He lost his mark on the 1-0 goal for the Arab side, whose header was parried by Fernando Muslera.

"When Manuel Ugarte came off, he moved more into a central midfield role, but remained imprecise with the ball and far from his best form."

Finally, El Pais were a little more positive over his display, awarding him a rating of seven but has still attached blame for the opening goal

They say: "He wasn't very involved with the ball, and Uruguay felt it. In one of Saudi Arabia's first dangerous attacks, he committed a foul that gave the opposition a free kick.

"He was caught out of position after the rebound on the Asian side's goal. He made a great recovery on one of Saudi Arabia's counter-attack attempts in the second half."

With Spain drawing earlier in the day to Cape Verde, Bentancur and his Uruguayan teammates will certainly feel this was a missed opportunity to steal a march in Group H.

Is the criticism of Bentancur warranted?

It does feel harsh to knock down Bentancur's performance as it was not as bad as portrayed by most of the media.

The Tottenham ace was heavily involved in the game, making 80 passes with a success of 85 per cent (68 successful passes).

Additionally, the Uruguayan created two chances for his teammates in which they failed to capitalise on.

Attacking-wise, Bentancur completed 100 per cent of his two attempted dribbles and won 83 per cent of his ground duels (five out of six).

In the end, it was Uruguay's wastefulness that cost them three points after taking 27 shots compared to Saudi Arabia's seven.

Overall, while he has been attached blame for Saudi Arabia's goal, it is quite a harsh judgement passed onto the Spurs man.