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Luis Suarez aims to win his fifth La Liga title this Saturday as Atletico Madrid play Real Valladolid in their final game of the season.
Suarez scored an 88th-minute winner against Osasuna to keep his side ahead of rivals Real Madrid in the title race. His 20th league goal of the season highlighted the quality he still possesses and once again questions Barcelona’s decision to sell him to one of their biggest competitors.
The surprising transfer
During the 2019/20 season, Suarez had his lowest-scoring season since his first campaign with Barcelona as his 16 goals helped them to a second-place finish. Barcelona’s disappointing season was emphasised by an embarrassing 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
The summer was largely dominated by the transfer saga of Lionel Messi as the Argentinian was linked with a move away from Camp Nou. This led to the Suarez deal happening late in the window as it was clear that the club’s priority was keeping Messi. Atletico managed to buy the Uruguayan for only £5.5 million, shocking the footballing world.
The Barcelona board told Suarez that he was too old to lead a great team and that he can no longer play at a high level. Usually, this would be a valid reason but the striker has proven this season, as well as in previous years, he is not an ordinary 34-year-old goal scorer.
El Pistolero
Suarez obtained the nickname ‘El Pistolero’ (The Gunman) during his time at Nacional, where he started his senior career. Since then, he has won the Golden Boot in both the Premier League and Eredivisie, two European Golden Shoes and the Pichichi Trophy. Despite facing bans due to multiple controversial moments throughout his career, Suarez is one of a few strikers who have scored 500 career goals for club and country.
Currently sitting fourth in the scoring charts, the Uruguayan’s 20 league goals have only been bettered by Messi, Gerard Moreno and Karim Benzema.
His goals have helped Diego Simeone’s team achieve their best scoring campaign since the 2016/17 season with the 65 La Liga goals matched by Real Madrid and only Barcelona currently has more with 84 goals.
Small game player?
Like any ageing player, Suarez has lost some of his pace and mobility, two attributes that separated him from other strikers and made him a huge threat in big games.
The 2014 PFA Player of the Year has struggled in the ‘six-point’ games this season in La Liga, only scoring once against teams in the top four. Suarez also failed to score in the Champions League for the first time in his career this season as Atleti crashed out in the Round of 16 against Chelsea.
Atletico will need to either match or better the result against Real Madrid to win the title. A fifth La Liga title will take Suarez level with legends such as Ferenc Puskas, Fernando Hierro, and Hristo Stoichkov.
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