“I won it by numbers, not because people voted for me”- When Luis Suarez spoke up on Golden Boots wins in the 'Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo era'
Former Barcelona star Luis Suarez once talked about the pride he felt in winning two Golden Boots in the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi era. The Uruguayan shared the award with Cristiano Ronaldo for the 2013-14 season after scoring 31 times in 33 league games for Liverpool.
Suarez transferred to Barcelona in the summer of 2014 and won the European Golden Shoe for the second time in the 2015-16 campaign. He plundered 40 goals in 35 La Liga games that season as Barca won the league by a solitary point.
Suarez was then, as per his own admission, sold by Barcelona at a time when he wanted to continue with the Blaugranas. He joined rivals Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2020 for €9 million.
Fifteen months after his transfer to Atletico, Suarez sat down for an interview where he talked about winning two Golden Boots during an era dominated by Messi and Ronaldo. He said in September 2021, via MARCA:
"I like it, I like taking on that responsibility [of being one of Atletico Madrid's leaders], that one has fought hard to be in the football elite because he has earned it with hard work, with statistics. I am above any individual award that they want to give me, that they want to vote for me, I always said that, I won two Golden Boots in the era of Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Leo [Lionel Messi] and I have to be proud because I won it by numbers, not because the people voted for me, and that has a lot of value."
It must be noted that Suarez's interview came after a debut Atletico Madrid season where he fired them to La Liga glory after netting 21 times in 32 matches. Now at Inter Miami, the 37-year-old looks set to finish his career with two European Golden Shoes — two fewer than Ronaldo and four fewer than his current teammate Messi.
While Ronaldo and Messi have 13 Ballon d'Or trophies between them — an award decided by votes rather than statistics —, Suarez has none, having never even made the top 3.
Luis Suarez once reflected on his bitter exit at Barcelona
In the same interview, Luis Suarez stated that he remembered how he was sent to train alone by Barcelona during his final days at the club. He also said that he was hurt by the way Barca treated him before he sealed a move to Atletico Madrid.
Suarez said, via the aforementioned source:
"When the time came, I was annoyed by the ways, I already said it, they hurt me, more than anything because I am a player who always gave everything to Barcelona and I have given myself completely to the club, and being treated like that hurt me, but also with the self-criticism of saying things happen for a reason, they happen for a reason and destiny will decide who was right and who was wrong."
Suarez mustered an impressive tally of 195 goals and 113 assists in 283 games for Barcelona in his six years at the club, lifting 13 trophies in the process. Behind Lionel Messi (672) and Cesar Rodriguez (226), the Uruguayan is the club's third-highest goal-scorer of all time.