LaLiga 2018-19: 3 Things we learned from the El Clasico

#1 Luis Suarez is still one of the best center-forwards in the game

Suarez is still one of the best going around

Last weekend, Barcelona beat Sevilla 4-2 to climb to the perch of the table. However, all the headlines were stolen by the arm injury suffered by Lionel Messi. With Messi out for a fortnight, the responsibility of carrying the team fell on Suarez’s shoulder. And boy, did he rise to the occasion.

There aren’t many sights better in world football than watching Suarez twist and turn defenders for fun. However, over the past few months, Suarez has been criticized for his lack of goals.

Though he has been a vital cog in Barcelona’s attacking wheel, the frequency of him making the net bulge, reduced considerably. On Sunday night, with the whole world watching, Suarez put all the criticism to bed as he conjured a magical hat-trick.

Although the goals would make the back pages of every leading daily, his performance was worth so much more. For the first goal, he made the decoy run which led to space for Coutinho to smash home whereas he won the penalty off Varane, before converting it himself.

In the second half, with Real Madrid putting Barcelona under the cosh, he represented the perfect ‘out-ball’ and held up play wonderfully.

These aspects show that those writing Suarez off, should do so at their own peril. On the biggest occasion of them all, Suarez silenced all his doubters and served a timely reminder of why he is one of the premier marksmen in the world.