Luis Suarez’s two Clasico experiences could hardly be more different. In the first he was thrust into the Barcelona team despite not having played a serious game in four months, a consequence of biting Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, and, though he played the pass for Neymar’s opening goal, the Uruguayan was off the pace. He managed little more than an hour of Real Madrid’s 3-1 win.
That was October. Jump forward to March and Suarez looks much more like his old self – the Liverpool killer who needed only a few touches before he put the ball in the back of the net. Fit and fully understanding of his role in the Barca team, the Suarez that led the line against Los Blancos was far removed from the confused new boy at Santiago Bernabeu. His second half goal, to beat Madrid and send Barca four points clear at the top, was a cathartic moment, and delivered 15 EuroFantasyLeague points.
It was also a tangible reward for what has been a revival, of Barca in general as well as Suarez in particular. The year infamously started badly against Real Sociedad. It’s gotten much better since. Suarez has since January 1 scored 11 goals. He’d managed only three before then. A run of six goals in four games between late February and early March should have caught the eye but the doubters still chatted. Scoring the winner against Madrid has left them silenced.
The title isn’t won and lost with the Clasico, not with the robust Atletico Madrid and ambitious Valencia still on the scene. Barca could drop points against one or both of them – time will tell. But beating Madrid is confirmation that the tide has turned in the Primera, Madrid command of the first half of the season giving way to Barca’s, if not domination, then supremacy at the very least. The Catalans host Los Che in mid-April and go to Vicente Calderon in the penultimate round of the season and both fixtures are likely to have a telling impact.
With an in-form Suarez playing through the middle, flanked by Lionel Messi and Neymar, Barca can feel confident of at least scoring against any opposition. La Blaugrana now have 80 goals in their 28 League games and Suarez has eight of them. A small percentage, perhaps, but when two of them are against Atletico, in early January’s 3-1 win, and Sunday’s Clasico, it’s a case of qualitative importance rather than quantity.
Luis Enrique said after the Clasico that Suarez had justified his €81m fee and while that’s arguable at this point in time, if Suarez’s goals deliver the title, he may be proved right. Suarez displayed a lethal touch lacking in others, most notably Neymar, who fluffed his lines again and again. For Suarez, it was a performance and a goal worth waiting for.
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