Earlier in September, Luis Suarez announced his retirement from international football. An emotional man, from an emotional country, many tears were shed, and even when revealing his decision to retire, the Uruguayan legend was struggling to hold back his sorrows. Whilst his image with many fans, certainly in the UK, is one of an aggressive, often dislikeable man, Suarez is of course, underneath it all, just a human like the rest of us. Albeit a human with magical feet and a football brain to match.
His final game took place in the early hours of Saturday the 7th of September (UK time), with Uruguay drawing 0-0 against Paraguay. Fittingly, some might feel, Suarez was booked in that clash, though sadly for him and his fans, he was unable to sign off with a goal.
The former Liverpool striker has had an incredible career, with the goals and brilliance in the end outweighing the controversy and the nastiness. But only just. Here we take a look back at his Uruguay career – he will continue to play club football with Inter Miami in the MLS – including the highs, the lows, the good, the bad, and the ugly!
🚨 OFFICIAL: Luis Suárez has announced his retirement from international football at the age of 37! 🇺🇾👋 pic.twitter.com/r446hfrff7
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) September 3, 2024
The Early Years
Suarez was born in Uruguay’s second city, Salto, in January 1987. He began playing youth football aged just five and turned out for two smaller sides before joining the country’s most successful side, Nacional, in 2001. He came through their youth system and played one season for them, in 2005/06, before Dutch side, Groningen, brought him to Europe at the age of just 19.
One season with them was enough to persuade Dutch giants Ajax to pay €7.5m for him. He thrived in Amsterdam, making a decent start before winning the Dutch Golden Boot in 2009/10, helping his club to the league title. He bagged 35 goals in 33 league games and 49 in all competitions and was crowned Dutch Player of the Year.
First International Recognition
Suarez played for his country at Under 20 level whilst at Groningen, scoring two goals in four games at the age-group World Cup. He had actually made his full debut earlier in 2007, rather setting the tone for his career in some regards – he was sent off! Just a couple of weeks after his 20th birthday he appeared in a “friendly” against Colombia and picked up two yellow cards!
His propensity to collect cards of both colours was something that troubled certain managers during most of his career, with his Ajax boss, Marco van Basten, among those to express concern. However, clubs and coaches have generlly accepted that his temperament is part of what makes him the player he is and have taken the rough with the smooth.
That, of course, is always easier when the smooth is as silky-smooth as Suarez at his best, and the goals are flowing. He rapidly took to international football, scoring goals from the start but he really improved as he got older. In 2008, he bagged four goals in 10 games, then three in 12 the following year, but in 2010 he took a big leap forward with seven in 11 and from then on he continued to be a prolific goal-getter for his beloved nation.
Move to Liverpool
His rise at club level continued its upward trajectory, with a move to Liverpool in January 2011. He moved at a time when he was suspended from playing for Ajax in a deal worth around £23m. His suspension had been given for biting a player in November 2010 whilst playing for Ajax. The club suspended him for just two games for biting a PSV player on the shoulder, though the league increased that to seven matches. It earned him the nickname the “Cannibal of Ajax” and, of course, would not be the last time he sunk his teeth into a player!
He thrived at Liverpool and his good form there coincided with some brilliant performances for his country. He helped Uruguay win the Copa America in 2011 and his four goals and two assists won him the Player of the Tournament award. He then captained his nation at the Olympics the following year as one of the overage players but failed to score in a disappointing tournament.
This was a rare failure for the Liverpool man at this time, and at the 2013 Federations Cup he moved ahead of Diego Forlan to become Uruguay’s top scorer. His play with his club was top class too, the tricky striker netting 61 goals for Liverpool in 2012/13 and 2013/14 combined, including 31 in 33 Premier League games in the latter campaign.
Rest of Club Career
Suarez was genuinely world class at this time and moved to Barcelona for around £65m in July 2014. The much-vaunted MSN frontline of Lionel Messi, Suarez and Neymar was a joy to watch and in 2014/15 Barca claimed a magnificent treble of their domestic league and cup, plus the Champions League.
Suarez would win four Liga titles in Catalonia and enjoyed six fine seasons with Barca, scoring 198 times in just 283 appearances. He then had a productive couple of seasons with Atletico Madrid before moving back to Uruguay with Nacional, then having a season with Gremio in Brazil, before a move to America to reunite with Messi in 2024.
David Beckham and co have assembled an incredible squad and it is no surprise that the Uruguayan has hit the ground running. At the time of writing, he has recorded 21 goals from 30 games with Inter.
The International Highs
As well as winning silverware with six different clubs, in five different countries, Suarez retires from his time with Uruguay with many great memories. 143 games brought 69 goals, meaning he is 11 clear of Edinson Cavani as Uruguay’s leading goalscorer. Only legendary centre-back Diego Godin has played more times for Uruguay and in addition, Suarez has had the honour of captaining his country.
He played a key part in their Copa America win of 2011 and played at four World Cups with his country. He is Uruguay’s second-highest scorer at World Cup finals and in 2010 had a helping hand in their best performance at the tournament since 1954. They finished fourth … but a helping hand is not always a good thing in football!
The Lows
Suarez has been involved in far too many controversial incidents to list them all but sticking to his time with Uruguay, they include:
- Red card on international debut – Collected two yellow cards, the second for dissent… in a friendly!
- Deliberate handball at the 2010 World Cup – Prevented a goal and earned a red card but celebrated from the tunnel as Ghana missed their subsequent penalty. His actions stopped Ghana from becoming the first African nation to make a World Cup semi and he refused to apologise, saying, “I made the save of the tournament”.
- Biting Giorgio Chiellini at 2014 World Cup – This was the third time Suarez had bitten an opponent, but this time it was in a group game against Italy. He received a four-month ban from football and a nine-game international ban.