Ben Brereton-Diaz: Blackburn Rovers striker feels benefit of Chile recognition

Ben Brereton-Diaz's first goal for Chile came against Bolivia in the Copa America 2021

Blackburn Rovers striker Ben Brereton-Diaz feels his international experience with Chile has helped him flourish back at Championship level.

The 22-year-old made his La Roja debut against Argentina in June, and has three goals in eight games having netted in his past two internationals.

He has 13 league goals so far, only one fewer than he managed in four seasons.

"It [playing internationally] makes you think and you learn a lot," Brereton-Diaz told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"With the experience and the players you're playing against, it's definitely given me a lot of confidence and motivation, and for Blackburn there's that confidence and I'm happy to be scoring goals."

Having qualified for the Chile side through his mother, the Stoke-on-Trent-born forward is now a key part of the squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.

He believes the welcoming atmosphere within the squad, particularly to a new face without a fluent command of Spanish, has helped him settle into international football.

Perhaps the only drawback from a club point of view is the travelling involved, with a straight-line distance of 7,264 miles separating Blackburn from Chile's capital Santiago - and that's without the flight changes required.

"I go from Heathrow to Madrid, and then join up with the other Europe-based players and we fly to Santiago from there," continued Brereton-Diaz.

"We have a good 15-hour flight where we can get talking before we get there.

"It's a long time, but it goes quick with a few little movies and it's good."

The conditions Brereton-Diaz will face when the team take on Paraguay away on Thursday and then back home against Ecuador next Wednesday will be very different to the cooling autumn temperatures here.

Asuncion's Defensores del Chaco Stadium will have been baking in a muggy 30 degrees Celsius by the time the players hit the turf in the evening, while the National Stadium in Santiago is expected to be around 27 degree Celsius the following week.

"It's hot, when we went to the Copa America in Brazil it was really hot at night, 30 or 40 degrees, and really humid," he said.

"So I've got a little bit of it, I'll have to drink a lot of water before games but I like the hot weather so I'm looking forward to it."