The Uruguayan striker isn’t joining up with the national team in order to properly recover from his knee injury.
Luis Suárez picked up a knee injury earlier in the season which he appeared to have quickly recovered from. However, based on this recent news, it seems like he made sacrifices for both Uruguay and Barcelona. This is important because this injury could have affected him in the long-term if he didn’t properly finish his recovery. It also reduces the chance of fatigue because it gives him a two-week break at a key time.
He picked up his injury early in the season, so it could be a major reason for his loss of form. His performances have been poor as he has only scored three goals and looks a shadow of his former self. Having this injury on his mind and being careful not to cause more damage has probably limited his explosiveness on the ball. These limitations make him more predictable and help reduce the threat he provides.
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Overall, Suárez has always been a striker that frustrates because of his inability to score seemingly easy goals, but then doing sublime to counter that. Limiting him to the basics may actually hinder his game significantly. These are all hypothetical and we won’t know whether they are correct until after the international break. Although, it does provide an interesting example of how even in a time of total news coverage, we sometimes don’t have access to all the key details, which can be easy to forget.
This break comes at a key time for El Pistolero because Paco Alcácer was starting to threaten his place in the team. Against Sevilla, they had completely contrasting performances as Alcácer scored twice while Suárez floundered.
How does Valverde deal with this?
Barcelona have a tough schedule immediately after the international break. They have games against Leganés, Juventus and Valencia in just over a week. Ernesto Valverde has to decide whether to reward Alcácer for his recent performances or trust Suárez. Leganés are a tough team to break down because they have only eight goals in the league this season. However, Barcelona should have enough creative weapons to beat them because they don’t offer much attacking threat with only nine goals scored.
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Bringing in the Uruguayan for the Juventus game could be the ideal scenario for both strikers. They would both get chances to win a starting place against Valencia who are closest to Barça in the league. That makes the game a huge clash, so both players will want a starting position. It would be a harder proposition for Suárez, but he is the more talented striker and they need him to deliver in big games like this one if Barcelona are to be successful this season.