Luis Suárez could not enjoy the triumph as exuberantly as his teammates.

The Atlético Madrid striker sat alone on the grass on Saturday, looked at his cell phone and cried tears.

Again and again he ran his hands through his hair, hardly seemed able to utter a word.

Shortly before the final whistle, he had secured Atlético the championship in the Spanish league with the decisive goal for their 2-1 victory over Real Valladolid.

An occasion for him to look back on his bitter farewell from Barcelona last summer.

“What I had to experience!

How they despised me! ", Suárez said after the game and burst into tears again and again.

His family, his wife, and his children suffered with him.

It was the worst year of his career, said the 34-year-old center forward, whom Barcelona's new coach Ronald Koeman was determined to get rid of.

Barça even paid Suárez six million euros in the end, just so that he would leave court a year before the end of the contract and move to Atlético Madrid on a free transfer.

What Atlético was missing

There coach Diego Simeone finally had what he was missing since Griezmann moved to Barcelona in 2019: a striker for the decisive moments.

Suarez also had load jams on some stretches this season.

Most recently, he had not scored in five games in a row, and he was absent from three games due to an injury.

But before the penultimate matchday, Simeone called out the “Zone Suarez”: “We are now in the Zone Suarez.

This is the best moment for such a player. "He said to him:" You have experience, you know these situations. "

And so it happened.

In the penultimate encounter against Osasuna, he kept his nerve with the score of 1: 1 despite several unsuccessful attempts and scored the winning goal a few minutes before the end that kept Atlético in the race for the title.

Last weekend, Suárez confirmed his coach's trust. For 40 minutes his team ran after a 0-1 deficit against Real Valladolid, the championship seemed to slip away on the last day of the game. But half an hour before the end, the Argentine Angel Correa scored the connection goal with the tip of his shoe from 17 meters. And a few minutes later the ball landed after a play error on the center line at Suárez, who pulled slightly to the left in front of the goalkeeper and then pushed in with a strong nerve and placed for the winning goal.

The satisfaction afterwards was so great that his emotions got out of hand.

The man from Uruguay came to Barcelona from Liverpool seven years ago, and in those seven years he has become Spanish champions five times, four times with Barça and now with Atlético.

He was almost a little too modest.

“El Pistolero” also won the Champions League in 2015 and has been the Spanish cup winner four times.

But those were triumphs with FC Barcelona, ​​who wanted to get rid of him.

Time leaves its mark

Koeman didn't want to part with Suarez out of mere whimsy.

After the win on Saturday, the Uruguayan acknowledged that he was often battered for FC Barcelona last season.

At the time, the newspapers reported cartilage damage in the knees that had been treated with a controversial stem cell therapy.

Also this season he was repeatedly absent due to muscle ailments and Covid-19.

Even if many professionals complain about the toughest season in their entire career, it cannot be overlooked that time has left its mark on a world-class striker like Luis Suárez.

In the 2015/16 season, he had scored 56 goals alongside Leo Messi.

With his 21 goals this season he is far from that.

In the Champions League, he was unable to build on his performance in La Liga.

But age is not a shame.

Many strikers change their style of play over the years, become more helpful to the team, contribute their experience and thus remain valuable to the entire team.

Such players make their teammates better.

A technician as excellent as Koke was able to take on the role of a source of ideas in the control center, helping Atlético to control the game.

So Simeone was finally able to deviate from his so often lamented wall tactics with the playful Suárez on the field.

The coach will be able to count on his key player for at least another year.

According to Spanish media, Suárez does not want to make use of the release clause from his one-season contract after winning the championship.

Allegedly, Liverpool were interested in Suarez returning.