Barcelona news: 'I wanted to disappear from the world', says Luis Suarez on Champions League defeat to Liverpool
What's the story?
Barcelona ace Luis Suarez has opened up about the disappointment following the Catalan giants' humiliating defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals, saying it made him want to disappear from the world.
In case you didn't know
Barcelona's 2018-19 campaign did not end the way most people thought it would. After winning a consecutive La Liga title, the Blaugrana were expected to complete a treble as they were favorites to win the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.
Following their 3-0 win over Liverpool in the opening leg of their semi-final fixture, the Spanish champions traveled to Anfield as overwhelming favorites to secure a final spot in the competition. However, the night saw Ernesto Valverde's men squander their big lead to lose 4-0, in what has been deemed to be one of the biggest collapses in European football.
Furthermore, Barcelona's bad luck followed them to the Copa del Rey final where they succumbed to a shock defeat at the hands of Valencia.
The heart of the matter
Suarez, who scored in the first leg against Liverpool, has revealed the aftermath at Barcelona following their monumental collapse, telling Fox Sports, "The days after back in Barcelona were the worst moments of my life and career, along with the 2014 World Cup, I wanted to disappear from the world."
"I didn’t want to take my children to school, everyone could see I was in a bad way. I had days I didn’t want to do anything, they were very difficult moments."
"I didn’t see [us losing] because we are Barcelona and we thought we’d have two or three chances to score, but we became nervous, we gave stupid passes away, we didn’t show the right attitude."
"When the first goal came we didn’t know how to react, we knew we had really messed up. After the game in the dressing room, no-one could say anything, there was sadness, bitterness, and disappointment because we knew we’d given an awful image."
What's next?
After missing out on the Copa del Rey final following knee surgery, Suarez will return to action for Uruguay's Copa America clash with Ecuador on Sunday.