Philippe Coutinho followed Luis Suarez in leaving an impressive mark on Liverpool's performance before moving to Barcelona. But as the Uruguayan star became one of the most important strikers in Catalan history, the Brazilian still has to prove himself.
The South Americans are preparing to face Liverpool for the first time when Barcelona host the Champions League semi-final tonight at the Camp Nou, hoping to lead their new club to reach the final for the first time in four years.
Suarez was named the best player in the 2013-2014 professional league poll after Liverpool were on the verge of winning the English Premier League title before Manchester United took it.
Liverpool needed years to recover when Suarez moved to Barcelona in 2014, in a record deal at the time for 87 million euros, finishing sixth and eighth respectively in the next two seasons before developing with current coach Juergen Club.
"I was on the threshold of the Premiership with a poor squad," Suarez told the Guardian newspaper. "The club did not spend as much as it does now. Any player who wants to go to Liverpool now, it was different then."
Coutinho was stunned by Suarez's departure, snatching the limelight and becoming Liverpool's most important player and leading a major uprising, but the club was not affected this time after his departure in January 2018, in a spectacular deal of 165 million euros.
Liverpool have invested the money in signing Virgil Van Dijk, goalkeeper Alison Baker and Nabi Keita, and he has a more integrated lineup, winning 91 points this season, and City are battling hard.
But Coutinho could not repeat what Suarez had done in Barcelona and had been booed by fans in recent months for failing to live up to the expectations of the deal while Suarez became an important part of the Spanish giants' history.
It is easy to forget what happened to the Swedes when he moved to Barcelona, after Giorgio Kilini's bite at the 2014 World Cup and the decline of the performance of his new club.
The machine does not stop
However, Suarez, 32, has proved to be a player who needs Barcelona and has become a never-ending goal machine. He is also good at providing space for his teammates with his physical strength and great effort.
The striker is second in the league's top scorer with 21 goals and only his friend Lionel Messi has 34 goals.
Last week, Suarez became third in the league's top scorer in the league with 131 goals, and on Saturday won his fourth title in the competition, while his 13th title with the giant club.
Things seemed easier for Coutinho as he joined an all-star lineup and his main position was waiting with Andres Iniesta ready to leave.
However, he played in the center of the pitch often and suffered in the middle of the stadium as well as in the center of the left wing scored ten goals, and passed five decisive balls in all competitions and lost his skills and appeared as a player without confidence and suffering from tension.
With Frenchman Osman Dembli recovering and ready to play, Coutinho is unlikely to enter the starting line-up against Liverpool tonight, meaning that he was no longer the one who would definitely start such a match a year ago.
Suarez will take over the spotlight, while stressing his importance to Barcelona, as was the case with his former club.