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(Reuters) – Luis Suárez has said he began to cry over Barcelona’s treatment of him in his final weeks at the club before leaving for La Liga rival Atletico Madrid, revealing that he was not allowed to participate. in training matches.
“Those days were very hard. I cried because of what was happening to me,” Suárez told the Uruguayan national team’s official media after scoring in Thursday’s 2-1 victory over Chile in a World Cup tie.
“I didn’t take the message from the club that they were looking for a solution to mix things up very well. It hurt me especially the way they did things, because you have to accept it when a cycle comes to an end.”
Suárez became Barça’s third all-time top scorer with 198 goals in six years at the club and helped the team win four La Liga titles, four national cups and the 2015 Champions League, but was forced to to retire when he had one year left on his contract.
After new coach Ronald Koeman told him he was no longer in the team’s plans, he was banned from the team for the team’s three preseason games before agreeing to a trade to Atlético on a free transfer.
“Not everyone knows what happened but the worst thing was going to train and being sent to a different group than the others because they didn’t allow me to play practice games,” Suarez said.
“My wife saw how unhappy I was and wanted to see me smile again and when the opportunity came to sign for Atlético I had no doubts.”
Suárez scored twice in Atlético’s 6-1 win over Granada on his debut before two frustrating goals less draws against Huesca and Villarreal.
The 33-year-old striker gave a tearful farewell press conference the day before signing for Atlético, while Lionel Messi, his former attacking partner, criticized the club’s treatment of the Uruguayan.
“I was not surprised that Messi supported me publicly because I know him too well. He knew the pain I was going through, the feeling that they were kicking me out was what hurt me the most,” Suarez added.
“The way they did things was not good and Leo knows how my family and I suffered.”
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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