Luis Suarez has revealed he had concerns about his ability to adapt to Barcelona’s playing style before signing in 2014.
In his first season at Camp Nou, Suarez scored 25 goals in 43 appearances as the Catalan side completed a Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble.
The Uruguayan has stepped up his contribution this term, converting 56 times in 51 outings in all competitions.
Upon joining from Liverpool, Suarez did not envision such a prolific spell, admitting he was troubled about fitting into the ‘tiki-taka’ style.
“I never imagined that I would be scoring goals here,” he told ESPN. “I never felt I would adapt to this team’s style of play the way I have.
“Sometimes they start the touches and I think that I can’t do that, that they will play it like that and I will just push it [toward the goal].”
Barca looked on course to challenge for another treble this season until a run of six games with just one victory resulted in their elimination from the Champions League and a reduction of their nine-point Liga lead to just one.
Luis Enrique’s side bounced back with four straight victories and can claim the title by defeating Granada on Saturday, and Suarez lauded the character of the team.
“What surprised me was that since I arrived everything went so well and we got so accustomed to winning,” said the Uruguayan.
“I wondered what might happen if we started to lose, but now I see that the group remained strong and united. We sent messages to each other to remind ourselves to believe in each other and that helped us keep our spirits up.
“Winning now depends upon us and we are aware that we are one match away from winning the league, which was our main goal from the beginning of the season.
“The great thing about football is that until you actually win you can’t celebrate and anything can happen.
“In February people said, well, now you have La Liga wrapped up and you can go after the Champions League, but then we had that dip in form and that’s football. We didn’t win and then we knew our nice lead was lost and now it is on us to recover.”
Suarez has contributed 37 goals in La Liga this term, four more than the second most prolific player Cristiano Ronaldo, and he thanked team-mates Lionel Messi and Neymar for putting him on the brink of winning the Pichichi Trophy.
“The entire team deserves the credit for my streak. Now my team-mates look for me because they know I am in the running,” he added.
“Leo [Messi] and Ney[mar] give me the penalties. That shows that the team sees what I am capable of over these last few games and they want me to score.”
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