Luis
Suarez says he'd love to retire at Barcelona after being presented with
the European Golden Shoe award for the second time in his career.
Luis Suárez is golden again. The FC Barcelona striker has collected
the Golden Shoe for the 2015/16 season as the leading goalscorer in
domestic European football after scoring 40 Liga goals for the Club last
year.
At a special event held at the old Estrella Damm factory in
Barcelona at lunchtime on Thursday, the Uruguayan received the trophy
from none other than his own two children, Benjamín and Delfina. Indeed,
visibly moved by the moment, Suárez said on receipt that “my family is the most important thing in my life.”
Luis Suarez and his family at the event
The ceremony included the screening of a commemorative video with
messages from several people that have played a role in Suárez’s life,
including Uruguay national team manager, Óscar Tabárez, who described
the striker as “the representation of our passion for football”.
Suárez also said “thank you to FC Barcelona for giving me the
chance to live this dream … I never imagined I’d be a top scorer when I
came to Barça, all I wanted was to win the Champions League. But I would
never have won this award without my team-mates. With their help,
everything is so much easier.”
He also commented that “if I don’t win the Ballon d’Or next year, then I hope Messi or Neymar Jr do instead.”
Suarez celebrating with Barca team-mates
While the other two members of the famous trident did score in the
4-0 defeat of Manchester City, Suárez failed to get on the scoresheet –
which led to an amusing anecdote involving his son Benjamín when he
arrived home late last night.
“He asked me why hadn’t scored any goals” the centre forward explained. “But when I told him that Messi had scored three, it cheered him up because he knows Leo as well!”
The Uruguay international striker was a joint winner with Real
Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo two years ago, but he claimed the prize
outright this time after scoring 40 league goals last season as Barca
won La Liga.
Since joining from Liverpool in 2014, he has scored 93 goals in 108
appearances for the Blaugrana and has won two La Liga titles, two Copa
del Reys, a Champions League, a World Club Cup, a European Super Cup and
a Spanish Super Cup.