Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz ( born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Uruguayan national team as a striker.
In July 2014, Suárez moved to Barcelona for a fee reported by the English press in the region of £75 million (€94 million), while Barcelona claim a fee of £65 million (€81 million), making him the third most expensive player in football history. He is widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the world.
Suárez began his career as a youth player for Nacional in 2003. He signed for Groningen in the Eredivisie in 2006 and transferred toAjax in 2007. In 2008–09 he was named Ajax Player of the Year. The following year, he was made the club captain, helping Ajax win the KNVB Cup while becoming the league's top scorer with 35 goals in 33 games. He was also named Dutch Footballer of the Yearand scored 49 goals in all competitions. In the 2010–11 season, he scored his one hundredth Ajax goal, joining a group of players including Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Dennis Bergkamp in doing so.
In January 2011, Suárez transferred to Liverpool for €26.5 million (£22.8 million). In February 2012, Suárez won the Football League Cup with the club. In April 2014, he won the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, becoming the first non-European to win the award, and the FWA Footballer of the Year. As the Premier League's top scorer with 31 goals he won the Premier League Golden Boot, and shared the European Golden Shoe with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Suárez represented Uruguay in the 2007 U-20 World Cup. In the 2010 World Cup, he played an important role in Uruguay's fourth-place finish and scored three goals, and blocked an extra time goalbound header with his hands during the quarter finals againstGhana. At the 2011 Copa América, Suárez scored four goals for Uruguay as they won a record fifteenth Copa América and was named Player of the Tournament. On 23 June 2013, he became Uruguay's all-time record goalscorer with 35 goals. At the 2014 World Cup, he scored his 40th goal.
Suárez has been the source of much controversy throughout his career. As well as his 2010 World Cup goal-line handball, he has also bitten three opponents, the latest being Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup, has been accused of and admitted to diving, and was found guilty by the FA of racially abusing Patrice Evra, a decision Suárez disputes.
Club career
2013–14 season, Player of the Year
On 14 August, Suárez appeared to reverse his position about wanting to leave the club, with reports stating that he wanted to stay at the club and that he was possibly going to sign a contract extension, citing the support from Liverpool supporters as the reason for his unexpected turnaround. Suárez returned to first-team training two days later after "offer[ing] contrition" to his teammates but reportedly not apologising to his manager.
On 25 September, Suárez returned to the Liverpool team after his suspension to make his first appearance of the 2013–14 season in a League Cup third round tie againstManchester United at Old Trafford, losing 1–0. On 29 September, Suárez made his first Premier League appearance of the season, scoring twice as Liverpool beatSunderland 3–1 at the Stadium of Light. On 5 October, Suárez made his first appearance of the season at Anfield, where he scored Liverpool's opening goal in a 3–1 win against Crystal Palace. On 26 October, he scored his fourth Premier League hat-trick, his first at Anfield, in a 4–1 defeat of West Bromwich Albion. According to the BBC, he has scored a hat-trick every 20.3 Premier League games, "the best rate of all 46 players to have scored more than one treble" in the top tier.
On 4 December, Suárez scored four goals against Norwich City in a 5–1 home win. He became the first player in Premier League history to score three hat-tricks against the same club, and took his scoring record against Norwich to 11 goals in five matches. On 15 December, Suárez captained Liverpool for the first time in a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur. He scored twice and assisted once as the team recorded a 5–0 win at White Hart Lane to close the gap on league leaders Arsenal to two points. The following day, Suárez was named theFootball Supporters' Federation Player of the Year for 2013. On 20 December, Suárez signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract with Liverpool.
On 1 January 2014, by scoring in a 2–0 home win over Hull City, Suárez became the first Liverpool player to score 20 or more goals in successive Premier League seasons sinceRobbie Fowler in 1994–95 and 1995–96. He equalled Andy Cole's Premier League record for the earliest date to reach the 20-goal mark, but set a new record low of 15 matches. His strike partnership this season with Daniel Sturridge has earned them a nickname "SAS", i.e. Sturridge and Suárez.
On 1 March, Suárez made his 100th Premier League appearance, scoring in a 3–0 win over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium. In the following fixture, he scored his 25th league goal of the season as Liverpool beat Manchester United at Old Trafford for the first time since 2009 by a convincing three goal margin. On 22 March, Suárez scored his sixth Premier League hat-trick, and third of the season, in a 6–3 win over Cardiff City at the Cardiff City Stadium. On 30 March, he broke Robbie Fowler's club record of 28 goals in a Premier League season in a 4–0 home win against Tottenham Hotspur which took Liverpool top of the league with six matches remaining. On 20 April, he scored in a 3–2 win at Norwich City to become the first Liverpool player to score 30 league goals in a season since Ian Rush in 1986–87. This also made him the seventh player to score 30 goals in a Premier League season, following Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Kevin Phillips, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robin van Persie.
On 18 April, Suárez was named as one of the six players nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season. On 27 April he won the award, becoming the first non-European to win the award. On 5 May 2014, Suarez was named as the Football Association Writers player of the year. He finished the season with 31 goals in 33 games, winning the Premier League Golden Boot, with Sturridge as runner-up, as Liverpool came second in the league and returned to the Champions League. Suárez also won the Barclay's Premier League Player of the Season award. As the Premier League's top scorer with 31 goals he also shared the European Golden Shoe with Cristiano Ronaldo. On 21 May 2014, Suárez ranked number one on "Europe's most influential player" list of the year, ahead of Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to a study by Bloomberg of the top five European leagues.
Barcelona
Signing and suspension
On 11 July 2014, FC Barcelona announced that the club and Suárez had agreed on a five-year contract for a fee reported by the English press in the region of £75 million (€94 million), making him one of the most expensive players in world football history. On 19 August, Barcelona reported the fee as €81 million. The club confirmed that Suárez would wear the number 9 shirt for the 2014–15 season.
Suárez missed the first part of the season after being found guilty of biting Italian player Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. As part of the suspension, he was banned from all "football-related activities," including training for Barcelona, for four months (until 26 October). He was also banned from setting foot in any stadium, even as a spectator, during the same period.
On 24 July, Suárez and his lawyers filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) located in Lausanne, Switzerland, and requested that the sanctions be reduced or the suspension to be lifted. The parties were heard at a hearing which took place at the CAS offices on 8 August. Six days later, the CAS confirmed the ban imposed by FIFA against Suárez, who remained suspended from football for four months, as well as a nine-match ban in internationals, the first of which was served in the Uruguay's round of 16 match against Colombia in the 2014 World Cup. However, the CAS removed the player's "football-related activities" ban, and was allowed to train with Barcelona. As a result of this ban, Suárez was banned from participating in the 2015 Copa América.
The CAS permitted Suárez to play in friendly matches, and he made his Barcelona debut on 18 August against Club León of Mexico at the Camp Nou, replacing Rafinha for the final 14 minutes of an eventual 6–0 win in the Gamper Trophy. Fellow attackers Lionel Messi and Neymar had already been substituted by the time Suárez took to the pitch.
2014–15 season
Suárez made his competitive debut for Barcelona on 25 October, starting in attack with Lionel Messi and Neymar away to Real Madrid in the El Clásico. Although he set up Neymar for the opening goal in the fourth minute, Suárez was substituted in the second half and Barcelona lost 3–1. He scored his first goal for the club on 26 November in a 4–0 win at APOEL in the UEFA Champions League group stage. On 20 December he scored his first league goal for the club in his eighth La Liga match, contributing to a 5–0 home win against Córdoba CF.
On 24 February 2015, Suárez scored twice as Barça defeated English champions Manchester City 2–1 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie. On 4 March, he scored in Barcelona's 3–1 Copa del Rey semi-final win over Villarreal to qualify the club for its 37th Spanish Cup final. On 8 March, Suárez scored twice in a 6–1 home win over Rayo Vallecano. On 22 March 2015, Suárez scored the winning goal for Barcelona in the 2–1 victory over Real Madrid at Camp Nou. In the post match press conference, his coach Luis Enrique lauded Suárez, stating: "Very few players can score a goal like he did, and that is why we signed him. He can decide games. He's a pure scorer, who needs very little to finish."
On 15 April, Suárez scored two goals in a 3–1 UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg victory over Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.[152] He nutmegged PSG defender David Luiz twice before scoring both goals.[153] On 2 May, he scored his first hat-trick for the club, in 8–0 win at Córdoba.[154] Suárez scored in the Champions League Final against Juventus on 6 June in Berlin, putting the team back into the lead in an eventual 3–1 win by converting the rebound after Gianluigi Buffon saved from Messi; the win sealed a treble for the team.
Suárez ended his first season at Barcelona with 25 goals and 20 assists in all competitions. The forward line of Suárez, Neymar and Messi ended with 122 goals, the highest for a season by a Spanish team.
source: wikipedia
