Ferran and the mirror of Suarez

It was surprising to see the image of Ferran Torres dejected at the end of the match against Napoli, in tears. A stamp that usually coincides with an elimination, or with a missed penalty in a shootout. But it was not the case. Ferran had not only taken advantage of his shot from eleven meters. He had also been Barça’s best attacking player by far. Yes, without aim. In addition to the penalty, he shot another six times and never found a goal. The clearest chance came near the end, when Pedri invented a backheel that left him alone against Meret. The Valencian sent the ball to the clouds. The emotion of the match brought him to tears.

His teammates (Mingueza and Busquets could be seen) approached at the end of the game to comfort him. Ferran has a special relationship with Pedri, who was the one who had given him that candy. The canary was another one that lifted his spirits. And, of course, so did Xavi. “In the changing room we have remembered the case of Suárez”. It was due to a question of fit in the team or anxiety due to the sanction that had dragged Chiellini for his bite, the Uruguayan had a hard time starting the little machine to score goals. Suárez went five official games without scoring until he scored his first goal against Apoel de Nicosia. And it took him eight days to score his first goal in LaLiga. There was then criticism of the signing, the Uruguayan’s aim, even his weight. Luis Enrique protected him and got results.

Ferran Torres would already sign Ser Suárez, who left in the summer of 2020 with 198 goals, becoming Barça’s third all-time top scorer. The Valencian has an ideal place to take revenge this weekend at his house, Mestalla. At the moment, he is missing his aim. But against Napoli he could only be asked for that. Because he moved with skill, he generated play and always finished with intention. Tsometimes obsessed with looking too much for the squads, the ball went too far on two or three occasions that could have been solved more easily and, above all, with shots inside the three sticks as the strikers are asked to do. It may not take long to uncap the bottle of ketchup. “Van Nistelrooy told me that goals are like ketchup. Sometimes they don’t come out no matter how hard you try and then they all come at once,” Gonzalo Higuaín once said.