Luis Suárez life and biography

Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz is a Uruguayan footballer who plays as a Striker for Dutch club AFC Ajax. He has also been capped 25 times for the Uruguayan national team. At Ajax he mainly played as a supporting striker with the main striker initially being Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and later Marko Pantelić. Following the arrival of manager Martin Jol at Ajax, Suárez was made the club captain, succeeding the departed Thomas Vermaelen.

Early career

In his home country, Uruguay, Suárez played for Club Nacional de Football. At that time, he was considered as one of the country's biggest talents. During his time with the Uruguayan club, he became national champion of Uruguay in 2006, scoring 12 goals in 29 appearances.

After that successful season, Dutch Eredivisie club FC Groningen purchased him for approximately €800,000. During his first season in Europe, Suárez performed well at Groningen, scoring 10 goals in 29 appearances. His impressive play attracted the attention of other European clubs and, following the season, he was sold to Ajax for €7.5 million on 9 August 2007.

Ajax

The transfer initially seemed doomed when Suárez lost case before the Dutch Football Association's arbitration committee. That same day, however, Ajax informed Groningen that they would be willing to pay more for him. Without Suárez in the line-up, Ajax won the Johan Cruijff-schaal prior to the start of the 2007–08 Eredivisie season.

Suárez made his official debut for the team in the UEFA Champions League qualifier against Slavia Prague. In the match he won a penalty kick for Ajax, though it was missed by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. In his Eredivisie debut for the club he scored one goal, made three assists and won another penalty, helping Ajax outclass newly promoted De Graafschap 8–1. In his home debut at the Amsterdam Arena, he scored another two goals against SC Heerenveen to continue the excellent start to his Ajax career. He then scored a hat-trick for the club in the league match against Willem II, to take his tally for Ajax to 14 goals in 27 appearances. He ended his first season with Ajax with 20 goals in 40 appearances.

Suárez received a lot of negative attention in the 2008-09 season due to the high number of yellow cards he receives. He was given a seventh yellow card against FC Utrecht in a 2–0 win for Ajax, which earned him a suspension against ADO Den Haag. He ended the 2008–09 season with 22 goals from 31 games in the league, finishing second in the top-scorers table, a goal behind Mounir El Hamdaoui of AZ.

In the 2009–10 season he scored his first league goals in the second match against RKC Waalwijk on August 8, 2009, scoring a hat-trick in a 4–1 victory, with the second goal being a 25-meter scorcher. He added more goals by scoring two goals against arch-rivals PSV Eindhoven, despite finishing on the losing side as Ajax were defeated 4–3. In the play-off round first-leg of the newly-incepted UEFA Europa League, Suárez netted four goals in a 5–0 win over Slovan Bratislava on 20 August 2009. A month later, on 20 September 2009, Suárez scored four goals in a 4–0 win against VVV, taking his tally this season to 10 goals in seven league games. He scored one goal and missed two penalties as Ajax Amsterdam beat nine-man FC Timişoara 2-1 in Romania to reach the knockout stage of the Europa League. On December 23, 2009, he scored 6 goals in a single match against the amateur team of WHC in the Dutch cup helping Ajax to win by a record margin of 14-1. On April 11, 2010, Suárez scored three goals during the first half as VVV this time were defeated 7-0. Suárez ended the season as top scorer in the league with 35 goals (49 goals in all competitions) and was named Dutch Footballer of the Year.

International career

Suárez made his debut for the Uruguayan national football team on February 8, 2007 in a 3–1 win against Colombia. He was sent off in the 85th minute after receiving a second yellow card for dissent.He has since continued participating with the Uruguayan national team, becoming a starter in the first four games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. He has scored 2 goals in 4 games, against Bolivia and Chile, forming a lethal striking force with compatriot Diego Forlán.

In 2011, Suárez scored four goals for Uruguay as they won a record fifteenth Copa América, and he was named Player of the Tournament. On 28 January 2011 Ajax accepted a €26.5 million (£22.8 million) offer for Suárez from English club Liverpool. Despite leaving while suspended, Suárez departed Ajax on good terms, and he was given a farewell sendoff after an Ajax game.

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