When Barcelona signed Luis Suarez in the summer of 2014, most of their fans were not overly optimistic. Sure, they knew they were getting a brilliant footballer who would score a lot of goals and had an incredible work rate, but he came with a lot of baggage.
He had already been reprimanded for biting opponents thrice and been banned for eight matches for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra in 2011. The third of the biting incidents happened during the 2014 World Cup when he was registered as a Liverpool player.
Barcelona signed him after that World Cup for a reported £75 million. But he had to undergo a lengthy ban and would not make his competitive debut for the Catalans till late October. They already had Lionel Messi, Neymar and fan-favourite Pedro in their forward line. All these were the reasons why the Barcelona faithful were a little sceptical.
Suarez wasn’t an instant hit – he took some time to adapt to the Barcelona style of the play. But in the second half of the 2014-15 season and towards the business end, he did come into his own, scoring key goals in important matches.
Not the special one
Despite his role in helping Barcelona to the league title, the Spanish Cup and, most important, the UEFA Champions League in his first season in Spain in 2015, Suarez was never considered the team's main man. The Catalan giants’ undisputed kingpin was Lionel Messi, their leading-goal scorer and their best player.
After him came the Brazilian wonderkid Neymar who had had a wonderful season. Suarez was a weak third – he was not even among the three finalists for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or awards. Along with Messi and Neymar, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was the third finalist.
But at the start of the 2015-16 season, the trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar – aka MSN – were in red-hot form. Barcelona shrugged off two shock losses and a Messi injury to go on a six-match winning streak, which included a 4-0 demolition of Real Madrid. Messi made his return from injury in that match, which was overshadowed by two goals from Suarez.
Messi’s return further invigorated the Catalan giants – along with Neymar who was in the form of his life and Suarez’s goal-scoring propensity, they entered March 2016 on the back of a 22-match winning streak, 12 points clear of second-placed Real Madrid.
But when the fall to earth arrived, they crash-landed. These streaks were ended by a draw to Villarreal and three consecutive losses followed. The first came against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on April 2. They then lost to Real Sociedad and Valencia.
In between they were also knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid. The wheels had seemingly come off. None of the front three of Messi – who also had tax troubles hanging over his head – Suarez and Neymar were getting the goals or performing to their very high standards.
Barcelona's three-game losing streak in the league was the first such instance since 2003. The club was on the verge of panic as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid were winning all their matches and chasing them down. A trophy-less season would have been considered an absolute disaster for Barcelona. They had to salvage their season and win the La Liga at the very least.
Answering the doubters
So who stepped up? The answer: Suarez. He scored 14 goals in the five remaining league matches, as Barcelona won the 2015-16 La Liga title on the last day – one point ahead of Real Madrid. All these five matches were comfortable victories.
Almost every player will go through a dry spell in a season. It so happened that when Suarez had his, so did Messi and Neymar. But Suarez shook off his poor run and scored four goals in back-to-back matches. He then scored once, twice and thrice in the final three matches of the season.
In doing so, Suarez became the first player other than Messi or Ronaldo to win the Golden Boot for the top goal-scorer in La Liga since 2009. His tally of 40 goals is five better than Ronaldo’s and an incredible 14 ahead of Messi’s. Despite his injury, Messi played 33 matches while Suarez notched up 35 appearances.
The other key statistic is the assists column. Both Suarez and Messi set up 16 goals each. It indicates how important Suarez has been this season for Barcelona. He plays as a central striker and as a result is closer to the opposition goal, while Messi has operated on the wide right or in a deeper role to dictate play. Hence the stats can seem to favour Suarez, but the roles have been devised to get the best out of both individuals.
As a result, Barcelona fans should start losing their scepticism over Suarez – if they haven't already. He has helped them to two league titles and scored in the 2015 Champions League final victory. He might also win them a second Spanish Cup title on May 22. The Uruguayan even seems to have put his misdemeanours aside. What Barcelona fans are seeing is a footballer trying his utmost to win them all matches.
Of course, there is no disputing the role Messi and Neymar have in Barcelona. The diminutive Argentinean has led them to several La Liga titles, Spanish Cups and Champions League trophies. Neymar, despite tailing off at the end of the season, also played a large role in Barcelona’s success this year.
But if Barcelona are honest with themselves, they will know that the man behind their title triumph this season has been Luis Suarez – someone who arrived at the club with a shadow hanging over him but has now finally become their kingpin.