Luis Suarez returns in fine form for Barcelona against Mallorca when both teams on Saturday evening, which is fantastic news for Cules around the world.
The Uruguay star was in pristine form before succumbing to a knee injury back in January, which inflicted a dire blow to Barca given the 14 goals in 23 appearances Suarez had scored until that point in the season.
Luis Suarez’s return has been to date the best news that Quique Setien has received since La Liga was stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Messi will undoubtedly be spearheading his squad as the main attacking weapon for Barcelona once again. That being said, having Luis Suarez as another reference for rival defenders to worry about will allow football’s most famous Number 10 some more spaces to run creatively into.
Clearly, the mere presence of Suarez at the heart of Barca’s attack will greatly boost the morale of teammates and demoralise opponents as La Liga continues its restart on Saturday. His aggressive nature, dynamism and influence on the pitch, in tandem with his partnership with Messi, add up to a nightmare to defend against. This vital morale boost in welcoming the long-anticipated return of one of the world’s most effective strikers cannot be underestimated.
It’s most likely that Setien will trust Messi to start from the right wing once again, allowing Messi to do what only he does best in whatever spaces he decides to explore in penetrating the Catalans’ defence.
Antoine Griezmann is most likely to be the final piece to complete Barcelona’s attacking front three. It would be very interesting to see how the French international improves his link-up with not only Suarez, but also with the constantly-overlapping Jordi Alba.
Legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger recently weighed into the Number 9 debate regarding Suarez at Barcelona:
“Barcelona has always bought the greatest players. Personally, I’m not sure that Luis Suarez needs to be replaced. They can add another striker because it’s true that Suarez and Lionel Messi are the main contributors and they might need somebody else who can score goals.”
“I still think Griezmann at some stage will start to score goals, he doesn’t look completely adapted, maybe now after confinement he will be refreshed because he’s a good goalscorer as well. But I’m convinced they will buy another striker as well.”
Clearly the arrival of hopefully either Neymar or Lautaro Martinez would be a major boost for Barca. Now it’s only a question of whether the club’s finances are strong enough to afford either transfer. This is the six-million dollar question for the Blaugrana.