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Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez’s friendship turned into rivalry

By Nishant Narayanan

Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona celebrates with Luis Suarez of FC Barcelona. (Photo by Eric Alonso/MB Media/Getty Images)
Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona celebrates with Luis Suarez of FC Barcelona. (Photo by Eric Alonso/MB Media/Getty Images) /
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Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez chase the same International record

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid’s Luis Suarez have formed a new rivalry amongst themselves. Although best friends, from their time together at Barcelona and still good friends to date, the Argentine and the Uruguayan have a new platform to compete on. Both Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez went into the world cup qualifiers with 21 goals each.

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Both of the former Barcelona teammates scored a penalty each for their respective nations in their first match. Suarez got a brace in Uruguay’s 4-2 defeat to Ecuador while Messi also featured in Argentina’s second game against Bolivia but he did not manage to get on the scoresheet.

The Uruguayan forward now has 24 goals in 46 world cup qualifier appearances and the Argentine has 22 goals in 47 games. The average would lead to 0.52 goals per game for the Atletico Madrid forward and 0.47 goals per game for the Barcelona captain.

Suarez already scored a brace and knicked an assist on his debut for Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. Barca paid him his salary off to let him leave for Wanda Metropolitano despite having one year remaining in his contract with Barca. His departure managed to free up a ton of wages at the Nou Camp with which the Catalans managed to equal the books for UEFA’S Financial Fair Play rules.

A free transfer was agreed between both the clubs as the former Liverpool centre forward was forced out of the club with utmost disrespect after 6 years of service. The veteran’s departure will surely be a huge loss for the Blaugrana but the club were monitoring the situation of Memphis Depay as a replacement for the Uruguayan international but the move failed. Having said that, multiple reports confirm that the former Manchester United forward will be looking to push for a move in January.

Next. Ronald Koeman reveals the ideal formation for Barcelona. dark

Will Depay be the ideal replacement for Suarez?

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