Luis Suárez: “Simeone told me it was a wounded lion and I pulled out my claw”

Luis Suárez, Atlético de Madrid forward, is still “excited” by that image in Valladolid, when he was proclaimed champion of the League and spoke by video call with his family from the same lawn of the Nuevo Zorrilla, after those “very complicated moments” of the previous summer when Barcelona dispensed with him, when the challenge of the rojiblanco team arose and when Diego Simeone, his coach, told him that “he was a wounded lion” that he should bring out “that claw and character.”

He related it this Thursday during the delivery of the EFE Trophy for the best Ibero-American player in the Spanish League from last season at the EFE Agency headquarters in Madrid, when he went back to that indelible snapshot for him, but also for the history of the League, lying on the pitch with his mobile phone in his hand through tears. “To this day it excites me”, he expressed when he revived the photograph again.

“Because they (their family) lived with me all the situation that I lived (when Barcelona did without him in the summer of 2020), very complicated moments. I think they were there suffering. It was special for me to want to show that one was still worth. It was a way that, when they saw me when I was bad, in that moment when I was happy I wanted to share it with them. For me it was a comfort to see them happy and happy, because for me they are everything “, recalled the Uruguayan striker.

After that bump that his departure from Barcelona meant for him, Atlético’s challenge came. “The Uruguayan has that DNA of rebellion, of pride, of continuing to show when he is doubted. That character plays for us, sometimes against and sometimes in favor, as in this case. It was what I spoke with Cholo from the beginning. He saw me really wanting to reverse that situation when I spoke with him, when I had the possibility of coming to Atlético, when I had to show it when I spoke with him that what I wanted was to achieve important things with Atlético, “he reviewed.

“When the possibility arises, We started to have contact and he told me (Simeone) that it was a wounded lion. At the time, the worst thing that could happen to someone is to hear at that moment see a wounded lion. To get this claw and all this character to show that one was still in force, “he revealed from his conversation with the Atlético de Madrid coach, when he was about to sign.

“Before coming to Atlético de Madrid I already knew what the fans were, with the bad luck of not being able to enjoy the title with them on the court last year, but had them as rivals and felt that adrenaline of playing at Calderón and Wanda. I feel it now every time I play. I knew there were a lot of Atlético fans, but the love they give is spectacular. Wherever you go there are always Atleti people, “he continued about the followers of the rojiblanco team.

Luis Suárez is “used” to pressure. “To give up and give up with the criticism that lives around us. You have to be prepared. And something that characterizes me and I say it is that you don’t have to get bored of winning. I was lucky to win many things at Barcelona, ​​but it was a challenge to come to Atlético and win the League. And I want to continue winning and competing, “remarked the attacker, who does not see himself as a coach in the future;” maybe other things that are not a lot of travel, a lot of concentration, because I’ve been 15 years now. “