Luis Suarez: The redemption of a rogue footballer

Luis Suarez – Sole focus on football this season

In the theatre of sport there is rarely, if ever, a sense of permanence. Heroes turn villains and ordinary folk transform into gladiators, powered by the gravity and surreal spirit that turn the theatrical stages of sport into iconic coliseums. In raising a toast to Luis Suarez as the Player of the Year, fellow athletes have sung a hymn of redemption for a serial offender. It is an act that underlines the power of sport to heal wounds, and offer second chances to the most vitriolic villains.

The award was an acknowledgement of the fact that even the most devious of creatures could reinvent their DNA, if they could get their head and feet in the right places. The timing was perfect too – the award comes at a time of significant poignancy around Anfield for a talented player who was in dire need of cleansing the sins of his chequered past.

It is a stunning recovery for a man who seemed to wander away into the dark corridors of misguided exuberance ever so often. Suarez was pivotal to Liverpool’s success this season – with two games left to play, the Uruguay striker is set to either emulate or surpass the feats of Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo. Even more importantly, the dashing striker has helped his team raise its game this year, hauling it to the cusp of a first league title after nearly a quarter century stuck in the middle of the pack.

With 30 goals after 36 league games, Suarez is just one shy of the mark set by Shearer for the Blackburn Rovers in 1996 and Ronaldo for Manchester United twelve seasons later. Each of those goals has come from open play, with not a single penalty to cushion that number.

The fact that he had twelve assists and played a critical hand in getting the best out of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling, wasn’t obviously lost on his fellow professionals who were unanimous in their choice. And he has accomplished all of that, despite missing the first six games to a suspension from another of his infamous urges to bite fellow players.

But getting the best out of his own talent, let alone others never came naturally for this dazzling striker. Controversy has been his constant companion – in the 2010 world cup, Suarez admitted to deliberately using his hand to block a certain goal from Ghana’s Dominic Adiyiah. It was an ugly yet effective choice to help Uruguay in the moment, even though it was completely against the spirit of the game.

Later that year, Suarez bit PSV player Otman Bakkal on the shoulder to become the “Cannibal of Ajax.” Suarez was clearly a double edged sword – a brilliantly talented footballer who dazzled defenders with pace and guile who had a deeply flawed character.

The dichotomy of his existence makes him an explosive player who is just as admirable as he might be despicable. It did not take long for the English Premier League to be introduced to the nefarious habits of the unruly Uruguayan. In his first full season at Anfield, Suarez drew attention to himself through an altercation with Patrice Evra, the United defender.

During a 1-1 draw against Manchester United in October 2011, Suarez allegedly racially abused Evra, forcing the Football Association to initiate an investigation. A couple of months later, after heated debate and deliberation, the FA handed Suarez an eight match ban and a £40,000 fine just ahead of Christmas.

In February, when the two sides met again, Suarez was chided and forced to apologize for refusing to shake hands with Evra. He earned some more disrepute when he was handed another ban, this time for making lewd gestures at some Fulham fans.

After a disappointing season, where he managed more controversy than goals – scoring just eleven, Suarez was expected to get his act together quickly. Liverpool had invested a substantial sum of money and the only returns he had offered were bad publicity and unnecessary distractions.

But he was a problem child. And distractions came glued to him like iron filings to a magnet. Even though the 2012-13 campaign proved productive for Suarez, it was not too long before he shot himself in the foot, agains. Late in the season, he got stuck into Branislav Ivanovi? with his itchy teeth.

An irked FA admonished the striker in strong words for his errant behaviour, handing him a ten game suspension. Suddenly, it was easy for fans to forget his 23 goals and everything else he did so well on the pitch. The lights were back on the flawed genius that kept rearing its ugly head, ever so often.

The beauty of sport lay in the opportunity to script new beginnings, and fortunately for Suarez, the new season offered yet another chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his fans and fellow professionals. And it appears finally that Suarez has decided to make the best out of the second chances that this beautiful game was offering him.

The manner in which Suarez has responded this season suggests that the 27 year old is finally coming to grips with the immense reservoir of talent at his disposal, without losing his sanity in the process. In a largely incident free season, except for some intermittent diving, Suarez has been the fulcrum of a strong Liverpool attack.

The Reds have been characterised by their attacking style, standing out from the crowd in one of the most competitive leagues. It is no surprise that the brutal speed and power of Suarez, working alongside Sturridge and Sterling has been instrumental in driving fear into the hearts of the stoutest defenders in the Premier League. Even those that do not like Suarez are happy to admit that the Uruguay captain deserves to be recognised as the best among the lot in the EPL.

There are very few things in a sporting career that excite an athlete as much as the joy from peer recognition. But in the case of Suarez – the fact that Evra voted for him and that the award comes at the end of a fulfilling season should soothe his bleeding soul and help him keep his sporadic outbursts of insanity at bay.