Opinion: Barcelona’s treatment of legend Luis Suarez typifies everything wrong about the club
As Luis Suarez stood at the centre of Camp Nou to say his goodbyes, he just couldn’t hold back the tears.
In six trophy-laden years in Catalonia, he won everything including the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League in 2015. However, the Uruguayan was shown the exit door like an academy graduate leaving after offering nothing.
Luis Suarez, though, has given everything for Barcelona. He scored an incredible 198 goals at the Camp Nou and registered an astonishing 109 assists. A player like that should be considered a legend and deserves better treatment.
Earlier on Friday, his move to Atletico Madrid was made official. For Barca fans, it’s weird that Luis Suarez will be playing for Atleti rather than the Blaugrana.
Luis Suarez deserved a much better send-off
Reports that new manager Ronald Koeman informed Suarez that his services were no longer needed through a phone call were just disgraceful. For a player who has given so much to the club, rising to become their third all-time top scorer, he deserved better.
The day before he left, the club desperately tried to give him a fitting send-off, but the harm had already been done. This sort of damage control was a knee-jerk reaction and Lionel Messi rightly called it out for what it truly is:
“You deserved a farewell befitting who you are: one of the most important players in the history of the club, achieving great things for the team and on an individual level,” the Argentine wrote on Instagra. You did not deserve for them to throw you out like they did. But the truth is that at this stage nothing surprises me any more.”
For Messi to have publicly spoken about Luis Suarez’s departure in this manner tells you just how bad the situation is.
In recent times, Barcelona have lost some of the values that the mes que en club stands for, but disrespecting its legends wasn’t one of them. On the face of how Suarez was treated, though, it typifies everything wrong at the club.