Barcelona will be welcoming an unexpected boost when La Liga restarts in early June: The return of a refreshed, recovered Luis Suarez.
Speaking to the Catalan media, it sounds as if Suarez could not be any more optimistic about his current condition:
“It’s been a very rare situation but we’re taking it on well with Juanjo (Barca fitness coach) and working from home via mobile, with the exercises he sends me and on video call.”
“I’m really happy. At first I did some days with Juanjo and then bit by bit I got back into the group. Now I have been working for a few days with the group.”
“In part the coronavirus helped me gain time in my recovery, I will be able to play in games in which I wasn’t able to play, I’m very happy for that but there’s the negative side too with the situation that many people are living in today.”
“The ambitions are the same, win all we can and I think that we’re in good shape to do that, I see the team doing well and it’s hopeful.”
As we debated at The Barcelona Podcast before his latest injury, the Uruguay star just does not have a like-for-like replacement in the current Barcelona squad. As a result, Quique Setien must be counting the seconds until he is able to start Suarez as the Catalan’s striker once again – a much-needed central reference that Lionel Messi has dearly missed during his absence.
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Despite the inability to physically meet as a group during the pandemic, Setien has used this time to explain his philosophy more clearly and teach the necessary formation tweaks to his players.
Having said that, the Barcelona manager explained he would have liked a longer period of preparation:
“We thought we would have more time to work as a group, but it’s not to be,” he said. “We would have liked more time. I hope there are not many injuries and that it’s less harmful than we imagine.”
“The players are mentally rested,” he said. “Now they are keen to get back on the pitch. Having not played for so long is a motivation in itself.”
“The new rule which allows five substitutions instead of three? I don’t know if it will harm us or benefit us. Maybe it will harm us because of our way of playing. We know that a lot of matches we will resolve in the final minutes. If you give the rival the option of putting on fresh players in that time, the weakness that is generated, with tired players, won’t come about.”
“But this new rule can also give us resources in a specific moment. It’s an unknown quantity and we’ll see how it goes.”
“It’s clear that we will start to compete with a high level of stress because you are playing for LaLiga in 11 games. That, together with the physical effort, we don’t know how it will affect us. We will see as time goes by.”
I strongly believe that, despite the obvious effects of months of inactivity, Barcelona fans around the world will be able to see an improvement on the pitch from our very first match – away against Mallorca in La Liga – and, as the players’ physical condition improves as weeks go by, an upwards trend until the end of the season.
Will that be enough to beat Real Madrid in the race for La Liga, I hear you ask? Head to The Barcelona Podcast to listen to our hosts and guests debating this, and many other hot topics coming out of the Camp Nou.
