Luis Suárez is a name that's adored by any Barcelona fan. The legendary Uruguayan striker was a key part of the legendary "MSN" Trio that also included Neymar and Leo Messi. Together, all 3 of them led Barcelona to a historic period that saw them achieve a legendary treble.
However, a surprising fact is that Barcelona had another legendary player with the same name. Capable of operating in midfield and as an inside forward, Luis Suárez was an instrumental part of Barca during the late 1950's. Let us now take a look at his glorious 6 years stint with the Blaugrana.
Early years
It was in March 1954 that Barcelona sealed the signing of Luis Suárez from Deportivo La Coruña. Suárez was officially registered by the Catalan club at the end of 1953–54 league season, thus being eligible to play in the 1954 Copa del Generalísimo ( Copa del Rey ) .
Suárez made his debut at the age of 19, when Barca faced Deportivo in the first round of the Copa del Generalísimo. The match ended in a 4-0 victory for Barcelona. As for Suárez, he was a regular part of Ferdinand Daučík's Barca side in the competition They managed to reach the finals of the copa, but ultimately ended up losing to Valencia.
The 1954–55 season saw Suárez struggle for minutes under Sandro Puppo's side. Suarez also played for Barca's reserve side España Industrial at the time. However, the Spaniard eventually managed to establish himself as a regular starter at the club.
Despite this positive development, Suárez was considered by several coaches at the club to be physically fragile. This even resulted in manager Ferenc Plattkó notably forcing him to do extra work-out on a punching bag in order to raise his muscle mass.
Golden era
Suárez lifted his first silverware with Barca as the 1956–57 concluded, as Barcelona won the Spanish Cup. The 1958-59 season was a turning point of his time at Barca, under new manager Helenio Herrera.
The talented Spaniard started to operate in a left inside forward position, and began to excel in his new role. Suarez eventually became one of the star players of the side. Barcelona went on to end the 1958–59 season on a historic note, as they clinched a domestic league–cup double. This was followed by a league–Fairs Cup double in the following campaign.
Despite the great momentum around him, Suárez and his relationship with Barca fans deteriorated massively around this period. His rift and rivalry with fellow teammate Ladislao Kubala was the primary cause for this. It eventually led to Suárez being booed by his own supporters in every game he played.
Suárez didn't let any of the negativity distract him, and continued to perform finely on the field. Those heroics on the field resulted in Suárez being awarded the Ballon d'Or on 9 March 1961, just a few minutes before the start of a European Cup match against Spartak Hradec Králové. History was made, as Suárez became the first and only Spanish male football to win football's most coveted individual honour.
His final season with Barcelona was quite a turbulent one, as they club had changed their manager on 3 occasions that campaign. The likes of Enric Rabassa, Ljubisa Brocic and Enrique Orizaola took turns to sit in the dug-out.
The departure of Herrera affected Barca drastically, as they failed to win any silverware without him. They came extremely close in the 1961 European Cup, but ended up losing the final to Benfica 3-2. That was also the final time Suárez played for Barcelona.
Throughout his seven seasons, Suárez played a total of 253 matches for Barcelona, scoring 141 goals. Barca's legendary Spaniard left after 6 glorious years, as Inter Milan paid a then world-record fee to lure him to Italy.
