Comment by Demola Dawodu

Eyebrows were raised when La Liga giants Barcelona brokered a deal to sign Luis Suarez from Liverpool this summer. The acquisition of the Uruguayan in July, was on the backdrop of the former Ajax man’s four-month ban from all football-related activity, for sinking his teeth into Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder during the World Cup-hence making him unavailable for selection until October.

An optimistic appeal by his legal team to have the ban duration reduced proved abortive at the Court Of Arbitration for Sport(CAS), though the punishment was softened as he was now allowed to train with his team-mates and play friendly games for club and country.

Suarez himself admitted he feared his dream move to Barca will not go through due to his infraction. He told TV3: “I was afraid Barcelona were going to back off, due to the repercussions surrounding the incident; I was conscious of the fact that this could happen.”

The £65m man also said he’s “nervous and excited” about the upcoming Clasico and believes the fact that his return is against Real Madrid is down to fate. He told Barcelona magazine: “I’m the kind of person who believes that things happen for a reason, and out of all 19 teams in the League, it’s precisely against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu that I’ll make my comeback. There must be a reason.”

Anticipation for the latest instalment of El Clasico has heightened due to the possible inclusion or non-inclusion of Suarez in Barca’s starting 11, but truth be told, the game won’t be any less of a spectacle if the Uruguayan is named on the bench by Luis Enrique.

Infact, if the Asturian coach doesn’t let sentiment becloud his sense of judgement, the latter should be the case. After all, Lionel Messi and Neymar have combined to devastating effect for the Catalans this season and Barca have been clinical in attack without the polemic Suarez. The 15 goals scored between the Brazilian & the Argentinean is testament to that fact.

Make no mistake, Luis Suarez is a handful for even the best defenders in world football due to his smart darting runs, mesmeric skill and adept shooting ability, but the showdown at the Bernabeu has come too soon for him. The Salto-born forward has not kicked a ball in competitive football for 17 weeks-which is an awfully long time out in the beautiful game-and is therefore shorn of match fitness.

Though he has played a couple of friendlies against Club leon. Barcelona B and Oman amongst others, his physical condition is still not up to snuff. In fact, he’s a tad overweight but Luis Enrique has rejected suggestions that his No.7 is fat. "It's difficult to evaluate if he (Suarez) is at 70, 80, 90 or 100 percent but what is sure is he feels much better in training," said Enrique.

"We see him training every day, he's a player like any other and what's clear is that he's not fat," the 44-year-old coach and former player argued.

Additionally, though Suarez was a regular poacher against the likes of Norwich, West Brom and Fulham while donning the famous red kit of Liverpool, a major downside of his illustrious Merseyside career was his poor goal record against the big teams.

As at February 2014- a few months to the end of his Anfield career-Suarez had scored 73 goals for Liverpool but only 6 in 23 games against United, City, Chelsea or Arsenal. It’s quite damning but statistics don’t lie. Anyone thinking he’ll step onto the Bernabeu pitch and plunder a brace or hat-trick should think again.

Then of course, the main baggage that comes with signing the Uruguayan in the first place, his temperament. His animalistic side is unleashed once things on the pitch are not going in his favour.

No fan or pundit would have foreseen the Ajax star of yesteryear, biting again when he chomped PSV Eindhoven’s Ottman Bakkal in 2010. But as we all know, Branislav Ivanovic and a certain Italian defender turned out to be his second and third victims respectively.

And should Luis Suarez feature and Barcelona fail to hit the right notes at the home of their fiercest rivals on Saturday, who’s to say Sergio Ramos or Pepe can’t be his fourth victim.

SOURCE: www.naijaballer.com

He should not start...let him come in second half.

There's a reason why it is termed El Clasico...the classic! A game watched by over 400million viewers d world over and you drop Suarez becos of some localized theory of him not having a good stat against the big guns in the premiership...HELL!

All this unnecessary epistle self!

Suarez shouldn't start early so that he won't grow hungry early thus preventing him taking a bite at pepe early

Simpleton!

PNomsule:
There's a reason why it is termed El Clasico...the classic! A game watched by over 400million viewers d world over and you drop Suarez becos of some localized theory of him not having a good stat against the big guns in the premiership...HELL!

Neymar and Messi are already synchronising.
He has to do the same too.