Luis Suarez – La Liga’s MVP / Image via espnfc.com
Call it a personal assessment, or perhaps even a biased one coming from a Liverpool fan, but Luis Suarez has this season been the very best football player in the Spanish La Liga.
Uruguay striker bagged a hat-trick at Granada to singlehandedly lead his team towards the new Premier League title and final match of the 2015-16 season has just been the fitting ending to what has been a brilliant season for Luis Suarez.
Numbers don’t lie
Not only did Luis Suarez dominate the Spanish championship this season, but the Uruguay striker topped the European charts with his incredible goal scoring exploits as well.
The 29-year-old forward found the net in La Liga on 40 occasions, which is two goals more than Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s tally with Paris Saint-Germain, who is a Europe’s second-best striker this season. Out of the top 5 European leagues that were took into consideration, Gonzalo Higuain sits in the third place with his 36 goals for Napoli, while the fourth place is reserved for Cristiano Ronaldo, who netted the total of 35.
For years now, the Spanish La Liga has been dominated by either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez this year managed to do what no other player did since 2008-09.
El Pistolero has namely become the first player other than Real Madrid and Barcelona’s main stars to finish as La Liga top scorer. He also joined the pair as the only player to score at least 40 La Liga goals in a single season in the Spanish top tier.
When it comes to his total scoring record, it is equally impressive.
Luis Suarez has bagged the total of 59 goals in all competitions, contributing to the greatest extent to MSN’s goal tally this season.
Together with Neymar and Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez has formed one of the most impressive, if not the best triumvirate in the football history. The MSN trio have been a joy to watch and their goals serve as a simple proof of the dominance.
Together, the three Barcelona strikers have scored 130 of Barcelona’s 171 goals this season, with Neymar adding 30 and Messi 41 to Suarez’s tally of 59, again across competitions.
A changed man
Luis Suarez has changed a great deal since his arrival to Barcelona.
He looks like a changed man and it is pretty obvious that the positive atmosphere in the team influenced his performances on the pitch. Luis Suarez is a player who feeds himself on love, passion and support, which are the three things he did not always have while at Liverpool.
And not to be taken wrong, I do not mean it from Liverpool’s side. The squad, manager, staff and Board showed their unconditional support for the Uruguayan even through the most difficult times and Suarez’s struggles with the notorious ban, but the English media and too big of a hype were just too much for him.
Football’s persona non grata is slowly starting to shape his reputation of a changed man, dedicated solely to football and his team. His temper flared on couple of occasions this season as well, but Luis Suarez was far away from the man who bit Branislav Ivanovic and Giorgio Chiellini.
This year’s Luis Suarez is humble and modest when talking about his goals, claiming “I only had to nudge the ball”, as his team-mates put them on a plate.
“They looked for me and I’m grateful for it, thanks to everyone once again. This would not have been possible without my team-mates”, he said following the Granada title clincher.
Sky is the limit
Luis Suarez is showing no signs of slowing down.
The Uruguay international has been Barcelona’s most valuable player this season and should he continue with this level of performances, Suarez will make it too hard for the football community not to give him the recognition he deserves.
Last year’s Ballon d’Or omission was a blatant mistake, but seeing that Suarez’s name is being mentioned as much as Messi’s and even more than Ronaldo’s at the moment the 29-year-old striker will have to be taken into more serious consideration for the most coveted prize a player can get. He has come of age and he keeps improving year in and year out.
Having more than doubled his tally from his first season at Barcelona, Luis Suarez is expected to continue down the same path next year and the world is sure to enjoy his incredible performances as he races to help his team more silverware.
We won’t be left to wait too long though as Barcelona still have one game to go before the curtain drops in the season.
The Catalans play Sevilla on 22 May and Luis Suarez is looking at the odds of 8/13 to score anytime against los Rojiblancos.
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