Announcing Retirement from Uruguay National Team, Here's Luis Suarez's Career Journey
Inter Miami striker Luis Suarez, who once played for Liverpool and Barcelona, officially announced that he will retire from the Uruguayan national team after the 2026 World Cup qualifying match in the Conmebol zone against Paraguay on Friday (6/9/2024).
"Friday's match will be my last with Uruguay," Suarez said in a press conference quoted by AFP, Tuesday (3/9/2024).
The 37-year-old footballer explained that his decision to retire from the national team was taken with a calm mind, although he admitted that this decision was not easy.
Suarez vowed to give his best in his final appearance for Uruguay against Paraguay. "I will give everything until the last second of my career with the Uruguayan national team," he said.
With all his achievements at club, national team and individual level, Luis Suarez deserves to be called one of the best strikers in the modern era.
Starting his professional career at Uruguayan club Nacional, Suarez immediately led the club to win the Uruguayan League title in his debut season in 2005-2006.
After that, in 2006, he moved to the Dutch Eredivisie League and joined Groningen for one season before strengthening Ajax Amsterdam from 2007 to 2011.
During his time at Ajax, Suarez scored 111 goals in 159 games in various competitions, helping the club win the Eredivisie title in 2010–11 and the KNVB Cup in 2009–10.
His skills and sharp goal instincts made Liverpool, a Premier League club, recruit him in 2010. Suarez played for four seasons defending The Reds .
However, the peak of Suarez's career came when he joined Barcelona in 2014. During his six seasons at the club, Suarez helped Barcelona win four La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey trophies, one Spanish Supercopa, one Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup.
After that, Suarez moved to Atletico Madrid and helped the club win the La Liga title in the 2020-2021 season. As he got older, his performance declined, and he then moved to Gremio before joining Inter Miami in Major League Soccer alongside his former Barcelona teammates, namely Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets.
Overall, Suarez has scored 509 goals in 827 games at club level to date.
Meanwhile, at the national team level, Suarez recorded 69 goals from 142 matches. He was a key figure in Uruguay's success in winning the 2011 Copa America.
"I wouldn't trade that Copa America trophy for anything. It was the best moment of my career," he said.
However, Suarez's career with the national team has also been marred by several controversies, with the most famous occurring at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
In the 2010 World Cup, in the quarter-finals, Suarez deliberately handled the ball in front of goal to prevent Ghana from scoring from open play. He was shown a straight red card as a result, but Ghana missed a penalty, and Uruguay eventually advanced to the semi-finals before being eliminated by the Netherlands.
Then in the 2014 World Cup, Suarez again stole the world's attention by biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. This incident earned him a heavy sanction in the form of a four-month ban from football activities.
During his time at Liverpool, Suarez also bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in 2013. In 2010, while still at Ajax, he also bit PSV midfielder Otman Bakkal.
Additionally, in 2011, while at Liverpool, Suarez was punished by the English football authorities with an eight-match ban for his actions which were deemed racist towards Manchester United defender Patrick Evra.
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