Luis Suárez
Luis Suárez, the Uruguayan striker born on the 24th of January 1987, was sent off at the 2010 World Cup and still found a way to watch the penalty that followed. Late in extra time against Ghana, he had used his hands to stop a header that would have won the game. Ghana's Asamoah Gyan hit the crossbar from the spot. Suárez, who had paused on his way off, celebrated the miss before heading down the tunnel. Uruguay won the shootout 4-2.
Afterwards Suárez said, "I made the save of the tournament." Ghana's coach, Milovan Rajevac, called the play an "injustice." Some labelled Suárez a villain and a cheater. Others called him a hero.
That split verdict has followed him ever since. He carries the nickname El Pistolero, the Gunman, and he is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time. His name is also tied to bans, fines and public apologies. How did a boy from Salto become a goalscorer that clubs paid enormous sums to sign? What kept pulling him into trouble? And what does a striker do when his knees begin to fail but his instinct for the goal does not?
In the Cerro neighbourhood of Salto, young Suárez played youth football for Sportivo Artigas. When he was seven, the family moved to Montevideo, his parents and six brothers together, and he played for Urreta. A car once ran over his foot and broke the fifth metatarsal bone. He kept playing regardless.
At 14 he joined the youth team of Nacional, and the temper showed early. At 16 he headbutted a referee after a red card, though one sports editor claimed he had only fallen into the official by accident. One night his coach caught him drinking and partying, and warned that he would never play unless he treated football more seriously.
In May 2005, at age 18, Suárez made his first-team debut against Atlético Junior in the Copa Libertadores. His first goal followed in September. He scored 10 times in 27 matches as Nacional won the 2005-06 Uruguayan league.
Scouts from the Dutch club Groningen, in Uruguay to watch a different player, saw Suárez win and convert a penalty against Defensor. He then scored a stunning goal. That single match was enough for the scouts to say they wanted to buy him, and Groningen paid Nacional €800,000 after the season. Suárez was thrilled to go, because his girlfriend Sofía Balbi, now his wife, had moved to Barcelona. They had kept up a long-distance relationship for a year.
At 19, Suárez reached Groningen speaking neither Dutch nor English, so the club placed him in the second team to adjust. Fellow Uruguayan Bruno Silva and a teammate named Rùfson helped him settle in. He worked hard at Dutch, and his teammates respected the effort.
Across five games in January 2007, Suárez scored four goals, collected three yellow cards and was sent off once. Against Vitesse, in a 4-3 home win, he won a penalty and scored twice with ten minutes to play. He finished with 10 goals in 29 league appearances as Groningen ended eighth in 2006-07. On the 14th of September 2006, his European debut had brought a goal in a 4-2 loss to the Serbian club Partizan.
Ajax saw his potential and offered Groningen €3.5 million, but Groningen refused. Suárez, upset, took the case to the arbitration committee of the Royal Dutch Football Association, hoping to force a sale. The committee ruled against him on the 9th of August 2007. That same day Ajax raised its offer to €7.5 million, and Groningen accepted.
Suárez signed a five-year contract with Ajax and made his debut in a Champions League qualifier against Slavia Prague. He scored on his Eredivisie debut and twice in his home debut at the Amsterdam Arena. In 2007-08 he scored 17 goals in 33 league appearances, building a partnership with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the league's top scorer. Ajax finished second.
Marco van Basten, Ajax's coach in 2008-09, noted how often Suárez had a hand in goals, but he disliked the yellow cards. A seventh yellow of the season, in a 2-0 win over Utrecht, brought a one-match suspension. A half-time altercation with teammate Albert Luque over a free kick brought another. Even so, Suárez scored 22 goals in 31 league matches, one behind Mounir El Hamdaoui of AZ, and was named Ajax Player of the Year.
Martin Jol replaced Van Basten before 2009-10, and after Thomas Vermaelen left for Arsenal, Jol made Suárez captain. The goals came early, starting with a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over RKC Waalwijk. In the KNVB Cup he scored six against WHC Wezep in a club-record 14-1 win. He added two in the second leg of the final, a 6-1 aggregate victory over Feyenoord, and finished as the cup's top scorer. Ajax placed second in the league behind Twente, yet Suárez led the Eredivisie with 35 goals in 33 matches and 49 in all competitions. He was Ajax Player of the Year for the second straight time and Dutch Footballer of the Year.
Back from the 2010 World Cup, he scored his 100th Ajax goal in a 1-1 home draw with PAOK in a Champions League qualifier. That put him alongside Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Dennis Bergkamp, who also reached 100 for the club.
On the 20th of November 2010, in a 0-0 draw with PSV, Suárez bit Otman Bakkal on the shoulder. Ajax suspended him for two matches and fined him an undisclosed sum, which the club said would go to a good cause. The Dutch daily De Telegraaf branded him the "Cannibal of Ajax." The KNVB then lengthened his ban to seven league matches, and Suárez apologised in a video on his Facebook page. During the suspension, Ajax talked with other European clubs interested in him.
A 1-1 draw with Manchester United on the 15th of October 2011 led to an accusation that Suárez had racially abused Patrice Evra. Suárez denied it on Twitter and Facebook. On the 16th of November the FA charged him over words that referred to Evra's ethnic origin, colour or race. Liverpool said Suárez would plead innocent and that it would remain fully supportive of him. On the 20th of December, after a seven-day hearing, a three-man FA panel found him guilty. It issued an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine, which Suárez disputed. At the next meeting in February, he avoided Evra's hand during the pregame handshakes. Suárez and manager Kenny Dalglish were later forced to apologise. He was also banned for one match for an obscene gesture towards Fulham fans.
On the 6th of January 2013, in an FA Cup tie with Conference National side Mansfield Town, Suárez handled the ball before scoring the decisive goal in a 2-1 Liverpool win. Manager Brendan Rodgers defended him, saying "it's not his job to own up." Mansfield's manager, Paul Cox, said he felt "a little bit gutted." He called the handball "instinctive" and admitted he would accept such a goal from one of his own players.
On the 21st of April 2013, in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Anfield, Suárez bit Branislav Ivanović. It was the second time he had bitten an opponent. The officials missed it, and Suárez scored an equaliser in injury time. Prime Minister David Cameron urged the FA to take a hard line. The FA charged him with violent conduct, and Liverpool fined him an undisclosed sum. Contrary to what Suárez claimed, Ivanović did not accept an apology.
Suárez accepted the charge but argued that the standard three-match ban was not clearly insufficient. A three-man independent panel gave him ten games, and he did not appeal. The panel criticised him for not grasping "the seriousness" of the incident. It wanted to send a "strong message that such deplorable behaviours do not have a place in football." It also reminded him that top players are role models.
On the 24th of June 2014, Uruguay needed to beat Italy to reach the World Cup knockout stage, while Italy needed only a draw. Around the 79th minute, with the score 0-0, Suárez clashed with defender Giorgio Chiellini while waiting for a cross. Replays showed him lunge and bite Chiellini's shoulder, and Chiellini showed the marks. Suárez fell and clutched his face. Mexican referee Marco Antonio Rodríguez did not penalise him. Uruguay won a corner and scored, finishing 1-0 and eliminating Italy.
Two days later, on the 26th of June, FIFA banned Suárez for nine international matches. It was the longest ban in World Cup history, beating the eight matches given to Italy's Mauro Tassotti for breaking the nose of Spain's Luis Enrique at the 1994 World Cup. Suárez was also barred for four months from all football-related activity, including entering a stadium, and fined CHF100,000. A seven-member panel studied the incident from 34 camera angles and rejected his claim of an accidental collision. It found the bite "deliberate, intentional and without provocation... with the intention of wounding Chiellini or at least of destabilizing him." The penalty was heavy because this was his third biting offence and FIFA saw a lack of remorse.
The online gambling firm 888poker cancelled its sponsorship deal with him. Without Suárez, Uruguay lost 0-2 to Colombia and left the tournament. The ban also ruled him out of the 2015 Copa América.
In Uruguay, the ban drew fury. President José Mujica called it "fascist." Coach Óscar Tabárez resigned from two FIFA posts in protest. Federation president Wilmar Valdez and captain Diego Lugano also defended Suárez. His lawyer said he had no doubts about a European-based campaign against his client. Chiellini, the victim, called the ban "excessive." On the 30th of June, Suárez apologised on Twitter and promised never to repeat it. Chiellini replied that all was forgotten. The Uruguayan federation appealed on the 3rd of July, and FIFA rejected the appeal on the 10th.
Barcelona took the opposite view. On the 11th of July, the club agreed to sign him. Its president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, called the apology "honorable." Sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said Suárez was "humble enough to admit an error." Teammate-to-be Ivan Rakitić praised his "character and strength." Suárez and his lawyers had already appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After a hearing in Lausanne on the 8th of August, the court confirmed the ban on the 14th. However, it removed the football-related activities ban, so he could train and play friendlies.
On the 25th of February 2025, the MLS Disciplinary Committee fined Suárez and Lionel Messi for breaking the league's policy on hands to the face, head or neck. In the opening match against New York City FC, Suárez had grabbed the back of the neck of Birk Risa during a half-time argument. Both still played and scored in a 3-1 win over Sporting KC.
The 2025 Leagues Cup final, at Lumen Field in Seattle, ended in a 3-0 win for the Seattle Sounders over Inter Miami. After the final whistle, Suárez and Obed Vargas were bantering, and Suárez put his arm around Vargas' neck in a headlock. The benches cleared. Suárez spat on Sounders security director Gene Ramirez, stepped onto his foot as Ramirez tried to disengage, and spat on the bill of his cap and his cheek. The punishment was a suspension from the 2026 Leagues Cup and three MLS regular season matches. Suárez issued an apology on the 4th of September.
Ajax accepted a €26.5 million offer from Liverpool on the 28th of January 2011, a sum equal to £22.8 million. The farewell at Ajax was warm. A coach told the crowd the club wished he could stay, the crowd applauded, and fireworks followed. Ajax went on to win the Eredivisie, and Suárez received a winner's medal for his 7 goals in 13 appearances.
Suárez signed a five-and-a-half-year deal on the 31st of January. He was Liverpool's most expensive signing until Andy Carroll arrived a few hours later for £35 million. He asked for the number seven shirt, once worn by Kevin Keegan, Peter Beardsley and his new manager, Kenny Dalglish. On the 2nd of February he came off the bench against Stoke City at Anfield and scored the second goal in the 79th minute, in front of the Kop. Liverpool climbed from 12th in mid-January to sixth, and he finished with four goals in 13 games.
The 2011-12 season followed his Copa América triumph, and by his own standards it was disappointing. Liverpool finished eighth, and he scored 11 league goals. On the 26th of February Liverpool beat Cardiff City on penalties to win the League Cup. His first Liverpool hat-trick came on the 28th of April, in a 3-0 win at Norwich City's Carrow Road. He finished sixth in the 2011 Ballon d'Or voting.
On the 7th of August 2012, Suárez signed a new long-term contract. Norwich suffered again on the 29th of September, when he scored a hat-trick against them for the second consecutive season. On the 19th of January he scored his seventh goal in three matches against Norwich in a 5-0 win. A hat-trick in a 4-0 win at Wigan Athletic on the 2nd of March made him the third Liverpool player, after Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres, to reach 20 Premier League goals in a season. On the 10th of March, his opener in a 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur was his 50th goal for the club. He also won the penalty that Steven Gerrard converted.
He ended the season with 23 league goals, second in the division, and 30 in all competitions. Gareth Bale of Tottenham beat him in the vote for the PFA Players' Player of the Year. On the 28th of May 2013, Liverpool supporters named Suárez their player of the season, with 64% of the vote.
On the 31st of May 2013, Suárez said he would look for a way out of Liverpool, citing media attention on his family. On the 6th of August, after Liverpool rejected a £40,000,001 bid from Arsenal, he repeated the wish. He said the club had promised to let him go if it failed to reach the Champions League. Rodgers denied any broken promise and accused him of "total disrespect." The British press reported that Rodgers made him train away from the first team. On the 8th of August, owner John W. Henry said Suárez would not be allowed to leave.
On the 14th of August Suárez reversed course, citing the support of Liverpool fans. He returned to first-team training two days later after offering contrition to his teammates, though reportedly not an apology to his manager. His first appearance of 2013-14 came on the 25th of September, in a 1-0 League Cup defeat at Old Trafford. Four days later he scored twice at Sunderland in a 3-1 win. On the 4th of December he scored four goals in a 5-1 win over Norwich, becoming the first Premier League player with three hat-tricks against the same club. His record against Norwich stood at 11 goals in 5 matches.
His partnership with Daniel Sturridge earned the nickname SAS, short for Sturridge and Suárez. By the 1st of January 2014, a goal in a 2-0 win over Hull City brought his twentieth league goal of the season. That tied Andy Cole's record for the earliest date to reach 20, but set a new low of 15 matches. On the 20th of December he had signed a new contract of four and a half years.
On the 30th of March, a 4-0 home win over Tottenham took him past Fowler's club record of 28 Premier League goals in a season. On the 20th of April a goal at Norwich made him the first Liverpool player to reach 30 league goals in a season since Ian Rush in 1986-87. He became the seventh player ever to reach that mark, after Cole, Alan Shearer, Kevin Phillips, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robin van Persie. On the 27th of April he won the PFA Player of the Year award, the first non-European to do so.
He finished with 31 goals in 33 matches and won the Premier League Golden Boot, with Sturridge the runner-up. He shared the European Golden Shoe with Cristiano Ronaldo. His 31 league goals equalled the record for a 38-game season. Liverpool finished second, two points behind Manchester City, and returned to the Champions League.
A document leaked through Football Leaks put the Barcelona fee at £64.98 million, or €82.3 million adjusted for inflation. That made him one of the most expensive players in football history. Barcelona confirmed he would wear the number 9 shirt for 2014-15. He made his first appearance on the 18th of August 2014, replacing Rafinha for the final 14 minutes of a 6-0 Gamper Trophy win over Club León at Camp Nou. Messi and Neymar had already been substituted off.
His competitive debut came on the 25th of October at Real Madrid in El Clásico. He started in attack with Messi and Neymar and set up Neymar's opener in the fourth minute. Barcelona lost 3-1. His first goal came on the 26th of November, in a 4-0 Champions League win at APOEL. His first league goal arrived on the 20th of December, in his eighth La Liga match, a 5-0 win over Córdoba.
On the 22nd of March 2015, Suárez scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid at Camp Nou. Coach Luis Enrique said, "Very few players can score a goal like he did, and that is why we signed him. He can decide games. He's a pure scorer, who needs very little to finish." On the 15th of April, he nutmegged David Luiz twice before scoring both goals in a 3-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain. On the 6th of June in Berlin, he converted the rebound after Gianluigi Buffon saved a shot from Messi, in a 3-1 Champions League final win over Juventus. That sealed the treble. He ended the season with 25 goals and 20 assists, and the trio of Messi, Suárez and Neymar, dubbed MSN, scored 122 goals. That was the most in a season for an attacking trio in Spanish football history.
On the 11th of August 2015, Suárez scored and assisted in a 5-4 extra-time win over Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup. At the Club World Cup in Yokohama, on the 17th of December, he scored all three goals against Guangzhou Evergrande in a 3-0 semi-final win, the first hat-trick in the competition's history. He added two in a 3-0 final win over River Plate, finished as top scorer with five goals and was named the tournament's best player.
The spring of 2016 brought a run without precedent in La Liga. On the 3rd of February he scored four in a 7-0 Copa del Rey win over Valencia. On the 20th of April he scored four more in an 8-0 win at Deportivo La Coruña, and assisted three other goals. Three days later he scored four again in a 6-0 home win over Sporting Gijón, the first player in La Liga history to score four in back-to-back matches.
On the last day, a hat-trick in a 3-0 win at Granada gave him 40 league goals. That earned his first Pichichi Trophy and his second European Golden Shoe. No one other than Messi or Ronaldo had won both in a season since 2009. Fourteen of the goals came in his final five matches. He also tied Messi on 16 assists, becoming the first player to lead La Liga in both goals and assists. He ended with 59 goals and 22 assists, and MSN scored 131, breaking their own record. A hamstring injury in the Copa del Rey final on the 22nd of May threatened his summer with Uruguay.
In the first league match of 2016-17, Suárez scored a hat-trick in a 6-2 win over Real Betis, including his first free-kick goal for Barcelona. By his 100th appearance, a 1-2 home loss to Alavés, he had 88 goals and 43 assists. Ronaldo had 95 goals and 29 assists in his first hundred matches in Spain, and Messi 41 goals and 14 assists. On the 11th of January 2017, he scored his 100th Barcelona goal, against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey. On the 1st of February, he dribbled from his own half through the Atlético Madrid defence to score in a 2-1 semi-final first-leg win.
On the 7th of February, Suárez scored in the second leg and then received a second yellow card for a foul on Koke. It was his first red card for the club, and he missed the final. He expressed disdain for the decision and wanted the club to appeal. Barcelona won without him, lifting the cup for a third straight season.
On the 8th of March, Suárez began the 6-1 win over PSG with a third-minute header. Later he won a penalty, which Neymar converted for the fifth goal. Barcelona had lost the first leg 0-4, and the 6-5 aggregate win was the biggest second-leg comeback in Champions League history. Suárez finished with 37 goals and 16 assists, and MSN ended its final campaign with 111 goals.
On the 23rd of September 2017, Suárez scored in a 3-0 win over Girona, the first Catalan derby against that opponent. Weeks later, on the 23rd of December, he opened the scoring in a 3-0 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. That goal was the 400th of his professional career. On the 14th of April 2018, he scored in a 2-1 win over Valencia that secured the longest unbeaten run in La Liga history, at 39 games.
On the 21st of April, Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-0 in the Copa del Rey final in Madrid, with Suárez scoring twice, for a fourth consecutive title. Eight days later he set up all three of Messi's goals in a 4-2 win over Deportivo La Coruña, which brought him a third league title with Barcelona. The unbeaten run reached 43 games before a 4-5 loss at Levante on the 13th of May. Barcelona had come back from 1-5 down, with Suárez and new record signing Philippe Coutinho scoring two each. Suárez finished with 31 goals and 17 assists, and his 12 league assists made him La Liga's top assist provider for a third consecutive season.
On the 28th of October 2018, Suárez scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 home win over Real Madrid. Only Messi had done the same in a league Clásico for Barcelona in the previous twenty years. On the 27th of February he scored twice against Madrid in a 3-0 Copa del Rey semi-final second leg. On the 27th of April 2019, Barcelona secured a second consecutive title, his fourth league championship with the club.
His Champions League that season was thin. His only goal came on the 1st of May, the opener in a 3-0 first-leg win over his former club Liverpool. On the 7th of May, Barcelona lost the second leg 0-4 at Anfield and were eliminated, having thrown away a three-goal lead for the second year running. Suárez ended the season with 25 goals and 10 assists.
A calf injury in the first game of 2019-20 delayed his season. On the 15th of September he came off the bench in the 60th minute and scored twice in a 5-2 win over Valencia. On the 6th of October he opened the scoring with a bicycle kick in a 4-0 win over Sevilla. On the 7th of December, a curving backheel in a 5-2 win over Mallorca was widely hailed as one of the goals of the season. It was later nominated for the 2020 FIFA Puskás Award and finished second behind a goal by Tottenham's Son Heung-min.
Three days later, he captained Barcelona for the first time, after coming on to set up Ansu Fati's late goal in a 2-1 win over Inter Milan. On the 12th of January 2020, Barcelona confirmed that a knee injury suffered in the Supercopa de España defeat to Atlético would need surgery and could keep him out for four months. On the 9th of July he scored the only goal against Espanyol. That took him to 195 for Barcelona, past László Kubala as the club's third all-time top scorer. On the 8th of August he scored a penalty in a 3-1 win over Napoli in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. Then, on the 14th of August, he scored Barcelona's second goal in a 2-8 defeat to Bayern Munich, the club's worst defeat in nearly seventy years. It capped the first trophyless season since 2007-08.
Suárez was invited to play for Uruguay in qualifying for the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, but Groningen did not release him. He did play in the finals, scoring two goals in four appearances. They came in a group stage draw with Spain and in a round-of-16 loss to the United States, who won 2-1. On the 8th of February 2007, he made his senior debut in a 3-1 win over Colombia. In the 85th minute, he was sent off for a second yellow card for dissent. In qualifying for the 2010 World Cup he played 19 of 20 games and scored five goals.
In June 2010, coach Óscar Tabárez named Suárez to the 23-man World Cup squad. Uruguay opened with a 0-0 draw against France. In a 3-0 win over South Africa he drew a penalty and set up Álvaro Pereira's stoppage-time goal. Against Mexico, he headed in a pass from Edinson Cavani and was Man of the Match in a 1-0 win. That sent Uruguay through as winners of Group A.
Against South Korea in the round of 16, he scored both goals in a 2-1 win. The second, in the 80th minute, came after he dribbled around a defender and curled a spectacular shot in off the far post. It took Uruguay to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1970. His red card against Ghana meant an automatic suspension, and he missed the semi-final.
Without him, Uruguay lacked a second striker alongside Diego Forlán of cunning and movement, and lost 3-2 to the Netherlands. In the third-place game against Germany, Suárez was booed almost every time he touched the ball. He set up Cavani's goal, but Uruguay lost 3-2. Across the tournament, he played 543 minutes in six appearances and scored three goals.
At the 2011 Copa América, Suárez scored in the opening 1-1 draw with Peru. He set up Álvaro Pereira's goal in a 1-1 draw with Chile. In the quarter-final, Uruguay drew 1-1 with hosts Argentina and won the shootout 5-4, with Suárez converting his penalty. He scored both goals in a 2-0 semi-final win over Peru and was Man of the Match. In the final he scored the opener and set up Forlán's second in a 3-0 win over Paraguay, a record 15th Copa América title. He scored four goals, gave two assists and was named the tournament's MVP.
On the 9th of July 2012, Suárez was selected for the Olympic team alongside Liverpool teammate Sebastián Coates. In a warm-up against Chile on the 11th of July, he scored a hat-trick as Uruguay came from 0-2 down to win 6-4. As one of three overage players, he was named captain. After an opening win over the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay lost to Senegal and Great Britain and went out in the first round. Suárez did not score.
At the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil, he scored a curling free kick from 30 yards in a 2-1 defeat to Spain in Recife on the 16th of June. Then he scored twice off the bench in an 8-0 win over Tahiti. That made him Uruguay's all-time top goalscorer with 35 goals, passing his teammate Diego Forlán. Uruguay lost the semi-final 2-1 to Brazil in Belo Horizonte.
He finished qualifying for the 2014 World Cup as top scorer in the South American section with 11 goals in 14 matches. Uruguay beat Jordan 5-0 on aggregate in an intercontinental play-off. On the 22nd of May 2014, Suárez had emergency surgery on his left knee and used a wheelchair for a time, leading to rumours that he would miss the tournament. He was a substitute for the opening 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica but did not play. Against England at the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, he started and scored both goals in a 2-1 win.
On the 25th of March 2016, after more than a year without playing for Uruguay, Suárez scored an equaliser against Brazil in Recife. It earned a 2-2 draw in 2018 World Cup qualifying.
Ronald Koeman became Barcelona's head coach on the 19th of August 2020, and told Suárez he was no longer wanted. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu had also left him off a list of players he considered not for sale. On the 23rd of September 2020, after failing to join Juventus, and amid accusations that he cheated to obtain Italian citizenship, Suárez signed a two-year contract with Atlético Madrid. On the 27th of September he made his debut, scoring twice and setting up Marcos Llorente in a 6-1 win over Granada.
On the 3rd of January 2021, a 90th-minute winner against Alavés took Suárez past Radamel Falcao's record for the best start with Atlético this century. By the 24th of January he had 12 goals in 15 league games, the joint-most in La Liga. That was the best start for a player at a new club in the league since Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid, who scored 13 in 15 in 2010. On the 21st of March, a header beat Alavés 1-0 and was his 500th senior career goal.
On the 16th of May, he scored his twentieth goal of the season with a late winner against Osasuna, keeping Atlético top. On the 22nd of May, the last day, his winning goal in a 2-1 comeback at Real Valladolid gave Atlético their first La Liga title in seven years. He finished as the club's top scorer with 21 goals.
On the 2nd of October 2021, Suárez scored and set up a goal in a 2-0 win over Barcelona, but did not celebrate against his former club. On the 15th of May 2022, after the last home match, Atlético announced his departure. Fans unfurled a banner reading "Thank you Lucho for making us champions." The club later added an illustration of him to the main mural at the museum of the Wanda Metropolitano. He was again top scorer, with 13 goals.
On the 26th of July 2022, Suárez announced a pre-agreement with his boyhood club Nacional, a free transfer confirmed the next day. He made his second debut on the 2nd of August, in a 1-0 Copa Sudamericana defeat to Atlético Goianiense. On the 31st of October he scored twice in a 4-1 championship final win over Liverpool Montevideo, making Nacional 2022 Uruguayan champions. He finished with eight goals and three assists in 14 league games.
On the 31st of December 2022, Grêmio announced Suárez on a two-year contract. He was presented to 30,000 fans at Arena do Grêmio on the 4th of January. On the 17th of January he made his debut with a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over São Luiz in the Recopa Gaúcha. On the 8th of April he won the Campeonato Gaúcho, scoring a penalty in the second leg against Caxias for a 2-1 aggregate win.
On the 21st of June 2023, Grêmio president Alberto Guerra said Suárez "gives himself almost daily injections and special treatments, he is in constant pain. It is serious. Suárez has the possibility of being fitted with a prosthesis." The next day Suárez scored, assisted and created chances in a 3-1 win over América Mineiro. Vice-president Paulo Caleffi denied the rumours, and Suárez mocked them on social media. In July, Suárez shortened his contract to the end of 2023. He blamed his knee, which the long, intense Brazilian schedule worsened.
On the 9th of November, he scored his second Grêmio hat-trick in a 4-3 win away at leaders Botafogo, after trailing 3-1. He ended the Campeonato Brasileiro with 17 goals and 11 assists in 33 games. He led the competition in goal participation, and Grêmio finished runners-up. Suárez was voted Best Player of the Brasileirão and received the Bola de Ouro from ESPN Brazil.
In the summer of 2023, plans were made for Suárez to join Inter Miami and reunite with Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. His Grêmio contract blocked the move. On the 22nd of December 2023, Inter Miami announced him for the 2024 season. He debuted on the 21st of February 2024 with an assist for Diego Gómez in a 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake. On the 2nd of March, two goals against Orlando City in a 5-0 win gave the club its largest-ever margin of victory.
On the 4th of May, Suárez scored his first hat-trick for Miami, with three assists from Messi, in a 6-2 win over the New York Red Bulls. On the 24th of August, he scored the fastest goal in club history, 30 seconds into the game against FC Cincinnati's Roman Celentano. Five minutes later he added a second to seal a 2-0 win. On the 14th of September his 17th league goal, in a 3-1 win over Philadelphia Union, passed Gonzalo Higuaín's club record for regular season goals.
On the 24th of June 2025, he scored in a 2-2 draw with Palmeiras at the Club World Cup. At 38 years and 151 days, he was the second oldest scorer in the tournament's history, behind Sergio Ramos, who had set the record a few days earlier at 39. On the 12th of October, he scored his 600th career goal in a 4-0 win over Atlanta United. On the 17th of December, days after Inter Miami beat the Vancouver Whitecaps to win the MLS Cup, Suárez signed a one-year contract extension.
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Common questions
Why is Luis Suárez nicknamed El Pistolero?
The nickname El Pistolero literally means the Gunman. It reflects his reputation as a finisher, and he has won two European Golden Shoes, an Eredivisie Golden Boot, a Premier League Golden Boot and a Pichichi Trophy.
How many times has Suárez bitten an opponent?
Three times. The victims were Otman Bakkal of PSV in 2010, Branislav Ivanović of Chelsea in 2013, and Giorgio Chiellini of Italy at the 2014 World Cup.
What was the punishment for biting Giorgio Chiellini?
FIFA banned him for nine international matches and four months from all football-related activity, and fined him CHF100,000. It was the longest ban in World Cup history.
What was the MSN trio?
MSN was the Barcelona attack of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar. In 2015-16 the three scored 131 goals together, a record for an attacking trio in a single season.
Which clubs has Suárez played for?
He has played for Nacional, Groningen, Ajax, Liverpool, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Nacional again, Grêmio and Inter Miami.
Where does Suárez rank among Uruguay's scorers?
He is Uruguay's all-time leading goalscorer. His 69 international goals also place him fourth among South American men's international scorers, behind Pelé, Neymar and Lionel Messi.