After months of anxious waiting, Luis Suarez’s moment has finally arrived. Following his €85 million (Dh442m) summer move from Liverpool, the controversial Uruguayan will relish the opportunity to pull on a Barcelona shirt in earnest for the very first time, and be absolutely desperate to make up for three lost months by playing a starring role.
However, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi also getting in on the action, Suarez’s desire to make a dramatic debut entrance faces serious opposition from the biggest party-poopers in planet football.
Ronaldo’s current run of form is simply outrageous – almost beyond belief. The Portuguese star’s sublime strike in Wednesday’s Champions League romp at Liverpool means that he has now scored in each of his 10 Madrid appearances since the season curtain-raiser Super Cup loss to Atletico Madrid.
More astoundingly, he has registered 18 goals in that period – averaging nearly two per game – and has recorded three hat-tricks to take himself level with Alfredo Di Stefano and Telmo Zarra for the most trebles (22) in La Liga history.
Zarra’s name pops up again in relation to Messi, of course, with the Argentine now on 250 career goals in La Liga and just one behind equalling the Athletic Bilbao legend’s all-time record.
Messi, although in slightly less spectacular fashion than Ronaldo, has also enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign, with the physical problems that dogged him throughout last season appearing to be behind him.
In addition to scoring a more than respectable tally of nine goals, Messi has also developed his all-round effectiveness by becoming far more generous with his teammates, being credited with nine assists and generally looking just as happy to play a pass as attempting to score.
Whether this is due to the influence of new boss Luis Enrique, a conscious mental decision on Messi’s part or just a short-term aberration remains to be seen, but it has added a new dimension to Barca’s attacking play so far this season.
And speaking of new dimensions… here comes Luis Suarez. But how?
The Uruguayan has always been earmarked for a place on the right-hand side of Barca’s three-man frontline, and his chances of starting at the Bernabeu tonight are significantly enhanced by Pedro’s lack of form and the youthful inexperience of Sandro and Munir El Haddadi.
Although Suarez has benefitted from one friendly outing with Barca’s B team and a couple of appearances with his national team, nobody really knows whether he has the necessary physical sharpness to perform well in the intense environment of El Clasico.
It is a major decision for Enrique with perfectly valid arguments for either starting Suarez or introducing him from the bench, but either way the Uruguayan should receive at least half an hour.
So, the stage is set for Ronaldo to break the hat-trick record to give Madrid a 3-0 lead, Barca to fight back with a brace from Messi to set the new La Liga scoring record, and then Suarez to pop up and steal the headlines with an injury time debut equaliser.
It sounds far-fetched, but with these players on the same pitch at the same time, anything is possible.
And that’s without even mentioning Neymar, James Rodriguez, Andres Iniesta, Toni Kroos, Ivan Rakitic… make no mistake, anything can happen in this Clasico and there’s only one (near) certainty: it won’t be 0-0.
