Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlwis ˈswaɾes] ; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Grêmio and the Uruguay national team . Nicknamed El Pistolero ('The Gunman'), known for his finishing inside and outside the box and his vision, Suárez is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time.[2] Suárez has won two European Golden Shoes , an Eredivisie Golden Boot , a Premier League Golden Boot , and a Pichichi Trophy . He has scored over 500 career goals for club and country.[3]
Suárez began his senior club career at Nacional in 2005. At age 19, he signed for Groningen , before transferring to Ajax in 2007. There, he won the KNVB Cup and the Eredivisie . In 2011, Suárez signed for Premier League club Liverpool , and won the League Cup in his first full season. Having established a strike partnership with Daniel Sturridge , he equalled the goalscoring record for a 38-game Premier League season and won his first European Golden Shoe in 2014. That summer, Suárez moved to Barcelona in a transfer worth £64.98 million (€82.3 million), making him one of the most expensive players of all time.
Dubbed MSN , Suárez was part of a dominant trio alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar , winning the treble of La Liga , the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League in his first season. In his second season, he won the Pichichi Trophy and his second European Golden Shoe, becoming the first player since 2009 to win both awards other than Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo .[4] He also led La Liga in assists, becoming the first player to do so in both goals and assists in league history.[5] [6] With Barcelona, Suárez won ten additional trophies, including three La Liga titles and three Copas del Rey . He signed for Atlético Madrid in 2020, winning his fifth La Liga title in his debut season.[7]
At international level, Suárez is both Uruguay's all-time leading goalscorer , as well as the all-time top scorer of FIFA World Cup qualifiers in CONMEBOL .[8] He has represented his nation at four editions of the FIFA World Cup and four editions of the Copa América , as well as the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup . He was named in the 2010 World Cup All-Star Team and won the 2011 Copa América , where he was awarded Best Player . Outside of his football credentials, Suárez has been a source of controversy throughout his career,[note 1] including a goal-line handball against Ghana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup , biting opponents on three occasions,[note 2] accusations of diving ,[16] [17] and racial incidents.
"As I was growing up, there was only one player I looked up to, and that was Batistuta, the Argentina No.9."
—Suárez on his childhood idol, Gabriel Batistuta .[18]
Suárez lived his early years at the Cerro neighbourhood in Salto , where he played youth football at Sportivo Artigas.[19] At age seven, he moved with his family (parents and six brothers) to Montevideo, where he played youth football at Urreta.[20] When he was a child, a car ran over his foot, breaking the fifth metatarsal bone . In spite of the injury, he continued to play.[21]
Suárez joined local side Nac 's youth team at age 14.[22] At age 16, Suárez headbutted a referee after showing his discontent following a red card, although a sports editor claimed he "accidentally fell into the referee".[23] One night, he was caught drinking and partying, prompting his coach to threaten he would never play unless he started playing football more seriously.[22] In May 2005, at age 18, Suárez made his first-team debut against Atlético Junior in the Copa Libertadores .[22] He scored his first goal in September 2005[24] and helped Nacional win the 2005–06 Uruguayan league with 10 goals in 27 matches.[25]
Suárez was found by a group of scouts from the Dutch club Groningen when they were in Uruguay to scout another player. As they watched, he won and converted a penalty and scored a "wonder goal" against Defensor . After watching only that match, the scouts approached Suárez and said they wanted to buy him, and after the season, Groningen paid Nacional €800,000 for him.[22] Suárez was thrilled to go to Europe because his then girlfriend, and now wife, Sofía Balbi, had moved to Barcelona ; they had maintained a long-distance relationship for a year and he wanted to move closer to her.[23] [24]
Suárez was 19 years old when he joined Groningen. Initially, Suárez struggled because he could not speak Dutch or English, and he played on the second team to adjust to the Dutch game.[26] His teammate and fellow Uruguayan, Bruno Silva , helped him settle into living in the Netherlands and playing for a new team.[26] He worked hard to learn Dutch and his teammates respected him for his efforts with the language.[26] Suárez scored goals for Groningen, but he also had disciplinary problems; in one five-game stretch in January 2007, he scored four goals but received three yellow cards and one red card .[27] Suárez especially made his mark in a 4–3 home win over Vitesse , when with ten minutes to go he subsequently won a penalty and scored two goals.[28] Suárez ended with 10 goals in 29 league appearances[29] to help Groningen finish eighth in the 2006–07 Eredivisie .[26] He also scored in a 4–2 loss to Serbian club Partizan in his European debut on 14 September 2006.[26] [30]
Ajax saw potential in Suárez and offered Groningen €3.5 million for him, but Groningen rejected the offer.[31] Suárez was upset and brought his case to the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB)'s arbitration committee to try to facilitate the sale.[31] The arbitration committee ruled against him on 9 August 2007, but that same day, Ajax increased their offer to €7.5 million and Groningen accepted.[32] [33]
On 9 August 2007 Suárez signed a five-year contract with Ajax, for a transfer fee of €7.5 million,[31] [33] and made his club debut in the UEFA Champions League qualifier against Slavia Prague .[34] He scored one goal in his Eredivisie debut for the club[35] and two goals in his home debut at the Amsterdam Arena .[36] Ajax finished second in the league table in the 2007–08 season [37] and Suárez scored 17 goals in 33 league appearances, setting up a blossoming striking partnership with league top scorer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar .[38]
During the 2008–09 season , Ajax head coach Marco van Basten noted how Suárez played an important role in many of Ajax's goals, but Van Basten was also upset by the number of yellow cards Suárez received.[35] Suárez was suspended for one match[39] because he was given his seventh yellow card of the season against Utrecht in a 2–0 win.[40] He was also suspended after a half-time altercation with teammate Albert Luque over a free kick .[27] [35] Ajax ended the season in third place.[41] Suárez scored 22 goals in 31 league matches[35] [38] and finished second in scoring tables, one goal behind Mounir El Hamdaoui of AZ .[42] Suárez was also named Ajax Player of the Year.[43]
Before the 2009–10 season , Martin Jol replaced Van Basten as head coach.[35] After the departure of Ajax captain Thomas Vermaelen to Arsenal , Jol named Suárez team captain.[44] [45] Suárez started scoring goals early in the season with a hat-trick in a 4–1 win against RKC Waalwijk .[46] He had a number of multiple-goal matches throughout the season, including four in wins over Slovan Bratislava in the UEFA Europe League play-off round ,[47] VVV-Venlo [48] [49] and Roda JC .[50] He scored three in the first half in another win over VVV-Venlo[51] and six against WHC Wezep in the KNVB Cup as Ajax won by a club-record margin of 14–1.[52]
Suárez scored two goals in the second leg of the KNVB Cup final and finished as the tournament's top scorer.[53] Ajax won the Cup final 6–1 on aggregate over Feyenoord ,[43] [53] but they finished second in the league behind Twente .[44]
Suárez ended the season as the Eredivisie's top scorer with 35 goals in 33 matches, and had 49 goals in all competitions.[44] He was named Ajax Player of the Year for the second straight year[43] and Dutch Footballer of the Year .[43] [44] [54]