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Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez became the latest big name to part ways with FC Barcelona as planned by new coach Ronald Koeman.
The forward has moved to Atlético de Madrid after the departures of Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal.
Suárez spent six years at the Camp Nou and won numerous trophies with the club. He came to Barcelona after the crazy bite incident with Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup and was still serving a four-month suspension in Liverpool when he moved to Catalonia.
He made his debut in Barcelona’s 3-1 loss to Real Madrid. However, he was destined to have a legendary career with the Catalan giants.
At the time, Lionel Messi and Neymar were combining well in Barcelona, but the arrival of Suárez took things to a whole new level. The trio led Luis Enrique’s team to a treble in the 2014-15 season by winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League.
Suarez himself scored 25 goals this season, including a goal in the final. The Uruguayan teacher also added 24 assists that season, a total of 49 incredible goals in one campaign.
Moving on to the next season, in 2015-16, Suárez scored 59 goals and provided 22 assists while helping Barcelona win the Spanish Super Cup, the Club World Cup, the Copa del Rey and La Liga.
In the 2016-17 season, Suárez was part of another legendary campaign despite Real Madrid clinching La Liga and the Champions League.
The forward played a pivotal role in arguably the biggest Champions League comeback of all time when he helped Barcelona win that match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Camp Nou. Suarez scored a total of 42 goals that season along with 16 assists.
Then came 2017, when Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain. Under new manager Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona suffered humiliation in the Champions League at the hands of AS Roma and Liverpool. But still, Suárez scored more than 30 goals in each of the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons.
Suarez’s last appearance for Barcelona, sadly, came in that 8-2 humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League this season. Suárez scored 21 goals and provided 11 assists in his final season at Barcelona, scoring a total of 198 career goals at the Camp Nou.
Statistically, Suárez leaves Barcelona as the best striker in the club’s history. Not only that, he is also the only Barcelona player, besides Messi, to win the European Golden Boot, while also being the seventh top foreign scorer in La Liga and the Uruguayan top scorer in La Liga.
Above all else, Suarez’s camaraderie with Lionel Messi is something that all Barcelona fans will appreciate and miss. His association in the field was second to none. Messi set goals for Suarez 39 times during their time together at Barcelona, more than any other player.
Speaking of Suárez assists to Messi, the Uruguayan contributed 47 in total, the same as Andrés Iniesta’s record with Neymar (42 assists to Messi), Dani Alves (41) and Xavi Hernández (32).
Finally, only two forwards have scored more goals than Luis Suárez in Barcelona’s illustrious history, Paulino Alcántara, who scored many of his 369 goals in lower competitions, and César Rodríguez, who scored 222 goals.
Suárez has surpassed players like Eto’o (130 goals), Patrick Kluivert (122), Thierry Henry (49), Villa (48) and Ronaldo Nazario (47) and many other legends during his time in the heart of Catalonia.
A true server that must be considered a legend in FC Barcelona!
