When Pep Guardiola moved Lionel Messi from the right wing to the middle of the park, he unleashed a monster. The fist instance of the move resulted in a 6-2 destruction of arch rivals Real Madrid. It took a bit of time for the position to become Messi’s primary one but, once it did, world-beating results followed. Have you ever heard of Lionel Messi’s 91 goal year in 2012? Yeah, that happened when he was playing striker.
You would think that the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” would only begin to describe the necessity of keeping Lionel Messi in the middle of Bracelona’s attack for as long as possible, or until his legs fell off, and apparently Luis Suarez was of a similar school of thought.
Speaking to BeIN Sport (H/T Goal), the Uruguayan commented on his disbelief that he would be able to play in his preferred striker’s role.
"I never imagined playing in this position because Leo was playing as the No.9, and I thought, 'where are they going to play me?'"
As we here at The18 previously covered, the solution to what could have been a very prickly predicament arose organically. Suarez took up a position in the middle of a field during a natural shift in positions in attack, with Lionel Messi out wide. Messi realized the positional set up would maximize the impact they both would have, and so he told Suarez to stay there. Luis Enrique saw that the two had figured things out on their own, and they haven’t moved back since.
Photo: @Infosmessi_ | Twitter
Suarez commented in his interview with BeIN on how well he and Messi get along, something that the above anecdote speaks to.
"We get along very well, both on and off the park. Sometimes it is hard to understand, because a striker is always angry when they’re not the main star, but here it does not happen like that," said Suarez. "There is nothing false or acted. It is a true friendship, where there is zero jealousy and where we get along well.”
"We advise each other and we are glad when things go well for each other. For me, I tell my children I played with the best player in history and that is a privilege."
Suarez has plenty of reason to be pleased with life at Barcelona. He’s playing the position he prefers in the best attack the world. He’s friends with his teammates, one of whom is arguably the greatest player of all time. He lives in Barcelona, one of the greatest cities in the world.
I’m really not sure I can think of a single bad thing about his life right now. It sure is good to be blaugrana.
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