From sweeper to star: How Luis Suarez conquered his demons and helped Barcelona win 24th La Liga

The flawed genius in sports is a trope that refuses to die down and football has had more than it's fair share of men who make you want to tear your hair out but are capable of moments of pure magic. Cantona, the man who galvanised Manchester United to become the most prolific team in English football, kung-fu kicked a Crystal Palace supporter once and called it ‘the best moment of his career’. Another United legend Roy Keane, who would’ve often see the red mist descend during the match, broke an opponent’s leg. Former Galactico Zinedine Zidane, the Real Madrid coach who reinvigorated his side after Real ended the bizarre shotgun marriage with Rafa Benitez, was another one who would lose it from time to time, as he famously did during the 2006 World Cup final against Italy.

And in the modern game, no figure comes close to courting as much controversy as Luis Suarez. A footballer whose talent was never in any doubt, he has finally managed to vanquish personal demons and emerge as the unquestionable leader of the MSN – Messi, Suarez and Neymar – and the complete centre-forward in world football.

Born on the streets

Suarez with his wife and daughter (Getty Images)

Like most youngsters who are attracted to football, Suarez came from a background where he didn’t have much at all. He was a street sweeper, who couldn’t try out for an elite team because he couldn’t afford boots. His father abandoned the family and a young Suarez avoided practice and instead started drinking. When he was 15 he met Sofia Balbi, a girl he fell in love with. Her family took him in, providing food, shelter and a love that he never experienced before. But when Sofia’s family moved to Spain, Suarez vowed to follow them.

In a show of enthusiasm that exists only among the youth, he believed that if he could play for a European team, they’d pay for him to be with his true love. Somehow he found a Dutch team (Groningen) willing to give him a chance. Ajax followed and then Liverpool and finally the pinnacle of world football – Barcelona.

Suarez in England – troubled times with touches of genius 

Despite his obvious skills, Suarez’s time in England was littered with controversies. As a Manchester United fan, it’s hard to forget what Luis Suarez is capable of, on and off the field.

Accused of racism, biting and diving and a host of other things, Suarez lit the Premier League with his antics and skills, but he was inarguably the most talented centre-forward to ply his trade in the Premier League since Thierry Henry, even though he spent only four years in England and one at the very top of the pile (2013-14).

Before this year’s Leicester’s magic, the fact that he took Brendan Rodger’s team so close to the Premier League title in 2013-14 was magical and Suarez was almost unplayable.

Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had noted: “He (Suarez) has shown in his time at Liverpool in the last year or so that he is near unplayable. He on his own can occupy a back four with his movement and his cleverness."

But it’s interesting to note, that the season came after a complete breakdown of the communications with the club and Suarez said he was seeking an exit from Liverpool.

At that time, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had a £40,000,001 bid for him rejected (Wenger thinking it was enough to trigger a sell-out clause). Liverpool rejected the bid and Suarez was asked to train away from the squad. At this point of time, former captain Gerrard had a conversation with Suarez urging him to stay at Liverpool and wait for Barcelona.

Suarez called it the most important conversation of his life, and it certainly changed the face of English football. Gerrard’s former teammate turned pundit Jamie Carragher reckons Wenger missed out on two titles because he failed to sign Suarez.

Suarez had noted that he was no longer going to put up with the press: "I'm happy at Liverpool, I'm happy because of the fans. I made a mistake, I'm human, but they (the English press) have talked about me in ways they shouldn't have. My family have suffered and things got out of hand. My daughter and my wife have suffered. I'm not prepared to continue to put up with the English press. I love Liverpool, but I suffered too much as a kid to get where I am to be attacked unfairly by the English press. They haven't appreciated me as a player, they've just judged my attitude."

Real Madrid looked like a likely destination but somehow Liverpool held on to their prized asset who scored 19 goals in his first 12 Premier League matches. And then came that performance against Norwich City in which he scored four crazy goals. A superb chip from 40 yards, a glorious free-kick and a volley followed by juggling goal similar to the one Delle Alli scored this season.

Somehow, the striker who wasn’t all that prolific in front of goal suddenly found his touch and started banging them in left, right and centre.

Despite the fact, he scored 31 goals in 33 matches, Suarez’s most productive season ended up without any silverware and, despite the fact that this was the most remarkable season a player had in the Premier League since Ronaldo’s 2007-08 double-winning season, he was ignored even in the FIFA's Ballon d’Or 30-man shortlist.

Move to Barcelona 

Suarez, Neymar and Messi are considered the most dangerous trio in world football. (Getty Images) 

Like Ronaldo, Suarez left for happier shores but even the process was complicated by another bite that took place during the World Cup 2014. However, he had to serve another suspension of four months which was found to be uncharacteristically harsh, banning him even from setting foot in a stadium. He filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who removed the football-related activities ban and allowed him to train with Barcelona.

He made his professional debut for the club on October 25, 2014, and racked up 25 goals and 20 assists as Barcelona made their way to a historic treble in his debut season.

Despite this, he ignored once again from the FIFA's Ballon d'Or lists as Messi and Neymar shared the stage with Ronaldo.This time, if he is indeed missing from the honours list, the awards will have some explaining to do.

Suarez was the most consistent of the MSN, somehow even convincing Neymar to pass the ball (as he did for one of Suarez’s hat-trick goals against Granada). In total, he scored 40 league goals, handing the Pichichi. He also has 16 assists in the league, which is the first time in La Liga's history that the same player has topped both charts. 

He made sure that Real Madrid’s resurgence under Zidane didn’t end Barcelona’s domination.

In the year that Johan Cryuff, the founder of the Barca-Ajax way of football, passed away, Suarez’s emergence – having played for the same clubs – more than anything epitomises the kind of football Cryuff wanted.

During his time in Barcelona, Suarez has, in one-and-half seasons, already scored more goals than he did in three-and-a-half years in Liverpool. He has also topped the assists chart in La Liga, laying on more goals than anyone else. While numbers don’t lie, to simply measure his current season by them would be a disservice.

In retrospect, Suarez was the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle who was always going to fit in better at Barcelona, more so due to his time at Ajax (though that’s not always the case as we saw with Zlatan Ibrahimovic).

Suarez brought a new style of play to this Barcelona side whose tiki-taka had started to look a tad weary and teams were beating it by pressing high and counter-attacking at side. Enrique’s side doesn’t play possession football like in Guardiola’s heyday.

In fact, the only criticism that ever existed about Guardiola’s style of play was that it made Barcelona one-dimensional. The new-look Barcelona, on the other hand, is more direct and attacks are often launched from defence to quickly find marauding full-backs like Alves. This change in style can be directly co-related to Suarez’s ability to hound defenders and get in behind at pace and the inter-linking between the top 3. 

The biting conundrum

Fans mock Suarez's biting incident at Brazil 2014. (Getty Images) 

No piece about Suarez is complete without trying to explain what makes a man as talented as him resort to biting. However, we should let the man try to explain what makes him do what he does. 

He tried to explain it in his book Crossing the Line, where he recounts the 2010 incident, the first bite. He wrote: “The adrenaline levels in a game can be so high; the pulse is racing and sometimes the brain doesn’t keep up. The pressure mounts and there is no release valve. In 2010, I was frustrated because we were drawing what was a very important game, and we were on a bad run. I wanted to do everything right that day, and it felt as though I was doing everything wrong. The pent-up frustration and feeling that it was my fault reached a point where I couldn’t contain it anymore.”

In fact, he goes on to suggest the he avoided talking to a psychologist because he wondered whether the treatment would make him too calm on the pitch? He wrote: "I'm the player who will kill himself just to prevent a throw-in in the 90th minute. To a certain extent, it’s also normal that a striker is irritable and on edge. For those 90 minutes on the pitch, life is irritating. I get irritated when a defender pushes up against me from behind."

He reveals later that he did get help, when he was moving from Liverpool to Barcelona, after the third biting incident involving Chiellini. Following advice from Sofia, he wrote: “It still feels like something very private, but I feel that they are helping me to understand that I don’t have to hold things in; and that I don’t have to feel such a huge weight of responsibility when I’m on the pitch.

I’m already learning how to deal with these build-ups of pressure. I have always preferred to keep things to myself, rather than sharing them with anyone, but I am learning that if you let it go, you feel better for it. Don’t keep it all bottled up inside; don’t take it all on alone.”

Whatever he did appears to have worked because this new version of Luis Suarez is simply in a class of his own.