About a year ago all the talk was about how Luis Suarez was struggling in his first year at Barcelona and how he still had to adapt to the Catalans style of play. Now we are talking about how he was snubbed of a Ballon d’Or nomination and how he is the best striker in the world. It’s been a year of change for the Uruguayan and here's how he got there.
Although Suarez thrived on the field with Liverpool, scoring numerous goals for the club, the same couldn’t be said off the field. Suarez found himself in numerous issues during his time at Anfield and it tarnished his reputation severely.
Suarez had problems at the beginning of his career while he was at Ajax when he was involved in a biting incident before his behavioural problems took a turn for the worst in England.
He was involved in another biting incident with Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic and had an racism incident with Manchester United defender Patrice Evra. He was vilified by the English media and was viewed as one of the main bad boys in world football. But that was just him playing domestically.
World Cup appearances followed by controversy
First his intentional handball against Ghana in the quarter-finals to prevent a goal earned him a red card. Although Uruguay ended up winning on penalties, Suarez was hailed as a “cheater” by many.
Four years later, he found himself in the headlines again. It had been a good World Cup for Suarez so far. He bounced back from a knee injury to score two goals in a win against England as he showed his class on the world's biggest stage. Then in Uruguay’s final group stage match, he decided to bite Italian and Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini and although he wasn’t sent off in that game, he was suspended for four months by FIFA and was sent home from the World Cup. Uruguay ended up losing their Round of 16 game against Colombia as two goals from James Rodriguez was enough to knockout Uruguay, whilst Suarez was again being hailed as one of the dirtiest players in the game.
Headlines followed condemning the forward
It was all justified. All the criticism about his attitude were accurate. Nobody was talking about Suarez the player, who when on his game was exceptional. They were talking about Suarez the person. He needed to change or it was likely that he would be kicked out of the game in a matter of time.
Right before the World Cup, Suarez was involved in a transfer to European powerhouse Barcelona. The Catalans were coming off a horrible campaign in which they won no trophies and then manager Tata Martino resigned on the last day. With new manager Luis Enrique determined to change the culture of a club that was still feeling the after effects of Pep Guardiola’s departure, Enrique decided that Suarez was worth the 81 million Euro fee to bring him to the Camp Nou.
After serving his four month suspension for Barcelona, Suarez made his debut in El Clasico against Real Madrid and instantly his impact was felt on the pitch as he assisted Neymar on Barcelona’s only goal in a 3-1 loss. Although he looked rusty at first, Suarez began to pick it up, playing a key role in all of Barcelona’s games.
The Uruguayan made his mark in La Liga scoring 16 goals for the Catalans including the game winner in a tight El Clasico at the Camp Nou. Suarez was able to receive a great ball from Dani Alves, hold off his defender, sliding the ball past a helpless Iker Casillas to give Barcelona a 2-1 lead that turned out to be the game winner. He also stepped up in the Champions League in the knockout stages.
Suarez in the Champions League
In his first game back on English soil in the round of 16 tie against Manchester City, Suarez basically ended the tie in the first 30 minutes with two great goals that gave Barcelona two away goals and an advantage heading into the second leg. In the next round against Paris Saint-Germain, Suarez nutmegged David Luiz on two occassions in Paris that led to two away goals. He then later added two assists to Neymar in the away leg against Bayern Munich, adding the winning goal in the Champions League Final 2016 against Juventus.
Messi, Suarez and Neymar. The most feared trio in world football?
This year has been no different. Suarez has had to score more due to the absence of Leo Messi after the Argentine was injured for a month. Suarez, again has showed the world class striker mentality that made him so feared while he was at Liverpool. The 28-year-old has also managed to stay out of trouble on the pitch this season, gaining fans from all corners of the globe.
Barcelona haven’t had a striker like Suarez in a while. Ever since David Villa left for Atletico Madrid a few years ago, Barcelona have failed to have a solid striker up to. In fact, Villa was the only striker that actually worked well with Messi in recent years. Zlatan Ibrahimovic didn’t work out well and thankfully for the Catalans, Villa fell into their hands. But now they have a true striker that works well with Messi and has shown the selflessness that makes the trio of MSN work. There were many times were Suarez was in on goal with either Messi or Neymar and could have taken the shot himself, but he chose to lay it off.
It has been a great year for Suarez as he has shown that he is a changed man. He has fit in well with Barcelona and has managed to change his attitude of the pitch. 2015 was the year for Barcelona as they won the European treble, but it was also the year for Suarez.