Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani were on target as Uruguay thumped 10-man Ecuador 4-0 in their opening Group C match at the Copa America on Sunday.

Nicolas Lodeiro opened the scoring after just six minutes before Ecuador full-back Jose Quintero was dismissed for a flailing arm.

With a numerical advantage, Uruguay ran riot at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte as Cavani and Suarez netted before the break. The rout was completed 12 minutes from time with an Arturo Mina own goal.

It was the ideal beginning for Uruguay in a tough Group C alongside champions Chile and guests Japan, who meet on Monday in Sao Paulo.

Uruguay were off to a dream start.

Suarez crossed from the right and Lodeiro proved the coolest customer in the Mineirao stadium as he beat one defender with his chest control, flicked the ball over another and then hit a crisp, low volley into the bottom far corner.

Uruguay were rampant and had the ball in the net soon afterwards only for Cavani to be given offside in the build-up.

Ecuador brought a physicality to the contest that upset the Uruguayan players and Quintero was perhaps lucky to escape punishment when catching Diego Laxalt with an elbow in an aerial challenge.

But moments later, his arm made contact with Lodeiro's face when challenging for another header, this time drawing blood.

Brazilian referee Anderson Daronco – whose bulging arm muscles put even Ecuador's strapping players to shame – initially showed the full-back a yellow card but after consulting VAR he changed that to red.

That left Ecuador with a mountain to climb.

On 27 minutes, Alexander Dominguez made a brilliant low save to turn behind Cavani's half-volley from 15 yards.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Cavani was denied again when Dominguez stunningly tipped his clever back-flick onto the post one-handed.

But it was third time lucky on 33 minutes as Diego Godin headed the ball into the danger area and Cavani acrobatically rasped a bicycle kick from seven yards past a helpless Dominguez.

Qatar stage thrilling comeback

Elsewhere, Qatar fought their way back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Paraguay in their first ever Copa America game on Sunday, proving they will be no pushovers in the tournament by pulling off a thrilling revival at Maracana stadium.

The 2022 World Cup hosts are one of two guest teams at the South American championship along with Japan. However, their debut got off to a nightmare start when Paraguay's Oscar Cardozo smashed in from the penalty spot in the fourth minute.

Qatar, who swept to victory at the Asian Cup by scoring 19 goals and only conceding once, caused their opponents plenty of problems later in the half but failed to capitalise, with striker Almoez Ali missing a glaring attempt from close range.

Early in the second half Cardozo had another strike ruled out after a VAR-review but Paraguay did not have to wait long to double their lead as Derlis Gonzalez struck in the 56th minute with a long-range rocket.

Qatar's brave performance looked to be in vain until Ali made amends for spurning an earlier sitter by pulling his side back into the game with a distance strike which looped into the net in the 68th minute.

Nine minutes later, Boualem Khoukhi leveled with a scrappy finish helped by some poor goalkeeping from Paraguay's Robert Fernandez.

"We dominated the game in several phases and despite being 2-0 down the team never stopped believing," said Qatar's Spanish manager Felix Sanchez, who began his coaching career in Barcelona's youth system.

Matias Rojas squandered a chance to restore Paraguay's lead late on but Qatar could have snatched victory themselves in stoppage time when they burst forward on the counterattack but the promising move came to an end due to a misplaced pass.

Colombia lead Group B on three points after beating Argentina 2-0 on Saturday, while Paraguay and Qatar have a point each.

Qatar meet Colombia on Wednesday, with Paraguay facing fourth-placed Argentina.