Blackburn Rovers are set to have Ben Brereton back with the club sooner than expected after he was ruled out of Chile's next international fixture.

The 22-year-old jetted off following the weekend victory over Sheffield United to link up with La Roja for their World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Ecuador.

Brereton is now a regular feature in the side following his surprise summer call-up and is a cult hero in the nation, already scoring three times for Martin Lasarte's side.

He started yet again last night as they faced Paraguay in an away encounter with Brereton lasting all 90 minutes in a 1-0 victory.

However it was what happened in the 43rd minute that was more significant for Rovers fans, as the forward picked up a booking which has made him ineligible to play against Ecuador in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Playing in that match would have given Brereton little time to fly back to the UK and prepare for Blackburn's fixture next Saturday against Bristol City, but the club have confirmed their number 22 will return to the country early so he has ample time to prepare and train with his team-mates.

The Verdict

This is a big boost for Blackburn who will have no doubt had to start Brereton on the bench against the Robins if he played against Ecuador next week.

Tony Mowbray had to deal with a similar situation last month when Brereton played and scored for Chile in the early hours of the Friday morning, then hot-footed it across the Atlantic to make it onto the bench around 36 hours later for a home clash with Coventry.

There will be no such problems this time though as Rovers will definitely have their top scorer available in a match that they should be aiming to take all three points from.

The Chile fans that all adore Brereton Diaz won't be happy that he's missing against Ecuador but their loss in this instance is Blackburn's major gain.