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Luis Suarez has announced he will play his final match in the sky blue shirt of Uruguay in La Celeste’s upcoming World Cup qualifier against Paraguay.
“I leave with the peace of mind that I gave everything for the national team. I have no regrets,” Suarez said in a press conference at Montevideo’s Centenario Stadium.
The striker made his international debut in 2007, and has played in four World Cups as well as winning the Copa America in 2011. He has 69 goals in 142 games for his country.
But despite his exploits on the international scene, it is really at club level where Suarez made his name, impressing at Ajax before a spellbinding few seasons at Liverpool and a controversial move to Barcelona.
And though his performances captured the imagination of fans and neutrals alike, it may yet be that Suarez is remembered more for controversial on-pitch actions than for his goal catalogue.
From a biting incident to a Champions League win, The Independent takes a look back at the highs and lows of a remarkable career.
Infamous World Cup save
Though Suarez’s performances at Ajax had had made him known to some by 2010, the Uruguayan became a household name at that year’s World Cup in South Africa – but it wasn’t because of his goalscoring.
In fact, quite the opposite – Suarez was sent off in the quarter-final against Ghana after saving a header on the goal line with his hands. Asamoah Gyan missed the ensuing penalty, Uruguay won the eventual shootout and Suarez later called it “the save of the tournament”.
His ploy was celebrated in his homeland, but it would be one in a long line of incidents that made him unpopular in some corners.
Copa America glory
Suarez scored four goals – including two in the semi-final and one in the final – and provided two assists in LaCeleste’s 2011 Copa America campaign, helping his nation to a record 15th title and collecting the player of the tournament award along the way.
Racial abuse ban
Suarez joined Liverpool in 2011 and was an instant hit with the Anfield faithful, with a series of stunning performances winning him plaudits around the country. However, this was all overshadowed early into his Liverpool career, when he was given an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a match in October 2011.
Suarez maintained his innocence and disputed the FA’s decision.
Biting Ivanovic
Suarez had already been suspended for biting while at Ajax, but this ‘habit’ first came to light in the UK in April 2013. The striker bit Branislav Ivanovic during a 2-2 draw with Chelsea, and he was later banned for 10 games after a decision from an independent panel.
Liverpool’s title slips away
Suarez had had plenty of goalscoring success at Liverpool before the season began, but the 2013/14 season saw his best individual and team performances as the Uruguayan scored 31 goals on the way to winning the golden boot and the Premier League player of the season award.
However, it was a bittersweet season in the end, as the Reds gave up a lead at the top of the league table t hanks in part toan agonising 3-3 draw to Crystal Palace – that had Suarez in tears after the match – and Steven Gerrard’s infamous ‘slip’ moment.
Biting Chiellini
Almost unbelievably, Suarez was caught biting an opponent again at the 2014 World Cup – this time with the eyes of the world on him. The latest incident was an intentional bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, and it landed him a nine-match international ban and a ban from all football-related activity for four months.
Champions League triumph with Barcelona
Suarez moved to Barcelona after the 2014 World Cup controversy, and he had to wait until October to make his debut, in a 3-1 loss to Real Madrid in El Clasico.
However, this result was not a sign of what the future held – Suarez became a key component of a squad that dazzled Europe on its way to winning the Champions League, with the Uruguayan one of the ‘MSN’ trio – along with Lionel Messi and Neymar – that tore apart teams at home and abroad, including PSG, Bayern Munich and Juventus. A goal in the European Cup final capped off perhaps the best season of Suarez’s career.
Goals and trophies at the Nou Camp
Suarez and the rest of MSN continued their exploits on a domestic level, winning La Liga in 15/16, 17/18 and 18/19, though Barca could not replicate their earlier success in the Champions League, despite Suarez winning a second European Golden Shoe in 2016 with an astonishing 59 goals in 53 games.
Unlike 2010 and 2014, the 2018 World Cup was uneventful for Suarez, with Uruguay exiting at the quarter-finals – they were beaten by Peru at the same stage of the 2020 Copa America too.
Atletico title and final World Cup
By 2020, Suarez’s powers had waned, and while he still had an eye for the spectacular, he was deemed surplus to requirements at Barcelona and departed for Atletico Madrid in September 2020.
This decision would come to haunt Barca as Suarez finished the season with 21 goals for Atleti as they won their first La Liga title since 2013/14.
On the international stage, the disappointment continued with a quarter-final loss in the 2021 Copa America and a group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup.
Another season at Atletico had come and gone without much success, and in July 2022, Suarez announced that he had reached a pre-agreement with his boyhood club Nacional, marking an end to the top-level career of perhaps Uruguay’s best-ever player.
