Luis Suárez, a goodbye that hurts all of Atlético: Simeone, Koke…

at 18:11 Atletico warned almost an hour and a half before the match against Sevilla: “At the end of the game, the Wanda Metropolitano will pay tribute to Luis Suárez and Héctor Herrera, who say goodbye to the athletic family today”. The Mexican’s goodbye was known and the Uruguayan’s was intuited, but with that tweet it was confirmed. And Lucho’s goodbye became the most important thing of the afternoon. His teammates were looking for him to score, the stands applauded him insistently and he knew that the countdown was coming to an end. With the change of him, at 65′, the first tears. And in the final tribute it was already irrepressible. The crying of him, that of several colleagues, including Simeone’s.

Luis Suárez closes a stage of two seasons, 82 games (plus the one in San Sebastián), 34 goals and, above all, a League in which he was decisive. The pity was that Atlético, with the Uruguayan as a battering ram, could not enjoy that League with the fans, so all recognitions of the Metropolitan have had to wait for this season. “Thank you, Lucho, for making us champions”, was the banner that the Fund displayed this Sunday. The “Uruguayan, Uruguayan” has rumbled from the first day.

The League of the Suarez Zone

The gunslinger He arrived at Atlético in 2020 with the intention of showing that he was still “in force”. The conquest of the League was the perfect revenge for him and for the club, which trusted him and saw an opportunity that could not be missed. As soon as it became known that he was going to leave Barça, Gil Marín and Simeone got down to work. What came after is already the history of Atleti, with Suárez crying on the lawn of Zorrilla as one of the most iconic images of last season. the brooch to the call Suarez area, the moment in which a footballer of his stature and his hierarchy had to measure up.

This course has not been the same. “I had a talk with Luis in mid-November, hard, long and sincere“, explained Simeone in the preview of Atlético-Sevilla. His weight in the team has been better since the return of the Christmas break, but “with people who are committed in the way Luis behaved, always hat“, Cholo recognizes. As revealed by the images of The day afterfrom MovistarNot even the coach could contain the emotion at Suárez’s farewell. Captain Koke was also seen touched. Total thanks and respect towards a footballer who, in addition to scoring, arrived with humility, but also provided leadership and winning character. And this season, when he least had to play, his attitude was exemplary to assume the new role. Captain without armband and Legend without badge, but he leaves with the recognition and affection of all the mattress fans.