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Luis Suárez spent most of his first game with Atlético de Madrid sitting in the stands of an empty Wanda Metropolitano watching his new teammates win without him, then he came in and showed them that they can win even better with him. There were 20 minutes to go before he ran onto the pitch, Atlético had already been winning 3-0 and had only 14 touches, but it was enough to score two, give another and win a penalty to complete a rather amazing debut.
At the final whistle, with Atlético beating Granada 6-1, Suárez headed into the tunnel laughing. It had been brief, but damn it, it had been good. Even that the VAR took away the penalty he had won again, he could not prevent him from smiling.
He could have had a hat-trick, not just then, but with another shot that went through the post, but this was surprising enough, the kind of day where he might even have enjoyed the time he didn’t play, watching João Félix shine, scoring one and making another before going 3-0. The young Portuguese is not Messi, but Suárez may find it fun with him.
He didn’t have the chance here, but he will. Suarez waited 70 minutes to enter and just 70 seconds to hit, a great first assist from the side on the rebound and in the corner released Marcos Llorente to make it 4-0. That was just his second touch. With his fourth, he released an effort a fraction wide. A moment later, he was unable to make contact as he searched for a rough exchange deep within the area, the danger palpable again.
Lionel Messi was back in shape for Barcelona, leading them to a resounding 4-0 home win against Villarreal in a near-perfect first La Liga game with new manager Ronald Koeman.
Teenage forward Ansu Fati was in inspiring form for Barca, teaming up with Jordi Alba to get his side foot into the net for the first time in the 15th minute and then hit again four minutes later with another icy finish.
Fati, the 17-year-old in his second season in Barcelona’s first team, then won the penalty that captain Messi dispatched to score the third at 35.
Villarreal defender Pau Torres scored an own goal at the end of the first half to accumulate more pain on Unai Emery’s side and Barcelona continued to dominate the game in the second half without managing to increase their strong lead.
Then, he fell after colliding with Fede Vico, just as he was about to pull the trigger again. Suarez had a long wait at the site with the ball under his arm, but having won the penalty and lost it again, the referee finally returned from the VAR screen having decided it was not a foul after all. It is not to worry. If anyone else thought the moment was gone, Suárez didn’t.
A long, deep cross from Llorente found him adrift behind the defense at the far post, where he launched a magnificent header past Rui Silva and into the far corner for fifth. And then, as if this wasn’t impressive enough, at the last minute he played a strong one-two with Vitolo and swept a first-time shot at Silva. The ball bounced off the post, but this was not a day he would be denied and he finished off his own rebound for the sixth goal of a sunny afternoon that had gotten good enough to be a bit silly, the new striker laughing as was going.
