Is Suarez The Best Striker In The World?

You either love him or hate him, but it's hard to admit that Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is not an outstanding player. The 27 year-old Uruguayan has scored 30 Premier League goals this season and was awarded the Football Writer's Association Player of the Year award as well as the Professional Football Association Player of the Year award. He is the first non-european player to receive the award.

In one of the toughest--if not the toughest--leagues in the world, Suarez shows that he is a deadly striker capable of breaking any defense and finding the net from anywhere on the pitch. 

The striker will have the opportunity to show his talent on the European scene next season as Liverpool is qualified for the next UEFA Champions League. This is the main reason Suarez should remain at the club this summer and not leave for Real Madrid (who tried to lure him in last summer). Suarez even pleaded to leave the club. Good thing Liverpool kept him! 

Suarez is one of those strikers that are unbelievably smart, skilled, and with an incredible work rate for someone whose main job is to score goals. Suarez has a thirst for victory and a rage to win every challenge and 50/50 balls that makes him a constant threat for the opponent. It doesn't matter where he gets the ball, he always makes something good out of it. Suarez also assisted 12 goals this season, making him one of the best passers in Europe. For more cool stats, check this!

Suarez has wonderful finishing abilities: From long range to close range, with his left or right foot, even his head, Suarez can score in any position. With 30 goals this season, he is only one goal away from the record of most goal scored in a season (31 goals held by Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo). An even greater achievement since the Uruguayan hasn't taken a single penalty this season. He also missed the first six games of the season! 

So is Suarez the best striker in the world? If you don't consider Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as "pure strikers", which I don't, then yes, he is. Without a doubt. Suarez will try to give Liverpool their first title since 2003. 

And hopefully, he'll be able to show what he can do to the world in a few weeks in Brazil!

Suarez: Dr Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

He is one of those players whose attitude detracts from his phenomenal talent as a football player! He is one of those that most football fans hate, but still admit that he is one of the greatest, among Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Mario Balotelli. A player that we want to dislike, but simply can't because he is so good.

Today, Luis Suarez showed, once again, that he was, before anything else, one of the best strikers in the world as Liverpool defeated Norwich City, 5-1, at Anfield Road! 

Any Liverpool FC fan would agree that after a game like that they would pardon Suarez for any misconduct on or off the field. The Uruguayan striker scored four goals against Norwich City, three of which were absolutely incredible. This was his first hat trick with the Reds.

The first one came from a 40-yard volley that finished under the crossbar of a helpless Norwich goalie. A wonderful strike that would certainly be one of the best goals of the season. The second goal came of a corner kick by Steven Gerrard. Coutinho missed the ball played toward the first post, but Suarez, right behind him, buried it in the net with a great left foot volley after getting the best position in his duel with the defender. The third one was a showcase of Suarez' foot skills and his ability to keep the ball under control at full speed, with defenders on him, and his great precision as he finished with a right foot half volley to find the net. Simply stunning and unstoppable. Liverpool was leading 3-0 at half time.

After the break, Suarez seemed to try to make his teammates score, probably feeling that he had his half and that was enough. Not quite though...

At the 75th minute, Liverpool obtained a free kick 25 yards away from goal. As Suarez stepped toward the ball, the crowd was ready to erupt...And surely it came! Suarez did it again! An powerful shot over the wall that finished into the net despite Norwich's goalie efforts. 

Finally, Suarez gave the Liverpool fifth and final goal to Raheem Sterling after a few dribbles and foot skills on the left side. 

"He has own this pitch; he has own this match," said the commentator when Suarez was subbed out. It was an incredible performance by Liverpool's #7, but would that performance be enough to erase his past? Can four goals be enough to forget his racial comments toward Manchester United's defender Patrice Evra or his bout of cannibalism against Chelsea's defender Ivanovic? 

Hopefully not. Suarez has to remember that the respect of the game and his actors are most important than scoring goals, especially when he is an icon and children all round the world watch him play every weekend. Maybe he took a lesson from the multiple-games ban that kept him away from the field at the beginning of the season as his behavior seemed to have evolved the right way.