Title in sight for Atletico as Suarez returns to Camp Nou
Madrid, May 7 (EFE).- The hero on so many nights at the Camp Nou, Barcelona’s third all-time top scorer with 198 goals in six seasons, Luis Suarez returns on Saturday wearing another jersey, the red and white of league leaders Atletico Madrid, with one goal: to return to the capital city with a victory that would inch the Colchoneros one step closer to the LaLiga title.
It will be his first appearance against his former team since he left, having come down with Covid-19 when the Catalans visited the Wanda Metropolitano earlier this season.
Suarez has turned the acrimony and bitter disappointment surrounding his departure from Camp Nou in the summer into extra motivation to prove his doubters wrong: he has been the spearhead of Atletico’s unlikely charge to the title, scoring 19 times in 34 appearances.
His coach, Diego Simeone, will be hoping his Uruguayan marksman can lead the visitors to El Cholo’s first ever win at the Camp Nou that would open up a 5-point gap between them and Barcelona.
“There is always a first time for everything in life,” Simeone said in his pre-match press conference.
He praised Suarez’s “fantastic” contribution since his move, as well as that of attacking midfielder Marcos Llorente, who has also shone this campaign.
“Their season speaks for itself. They have been having a fantastic season. They are two extraordinary players in our team. One with a lot of history like Luis, vindicating everything that was not expected of him, and Llorente having one of the best years of his career,” said Simeone.
In the opposite dugout, Ronald Koeman has overcome a difficult start to his Barcelona career, leading his team on a remarkable recovery in recent months as the Blaugrana have shot up the league table during the second half of the campaign.
Lionel Messi appears to have put last summer’s drama behind him — although he has yet to commit to a new contract — and he has started to gel with French striker and former Atletico star Antoine Griezmann, who has finally found his feet at Camp Nou and is showing signs of the stellar form that earned him the move to Catalonia two years ago.
Koeman said: “I am convinced that, if we win our last four games, we will be champions.”
“We have recovered a lot of ground to be where we are,” he continued. “It is not something that we expected three or four months ago, and we are convinced that we will have a great game.” EFE
ks/jt
