Luis Suarez has a higher combined total of goals and assists in his first 100 appearances for Barcelona than Cristiano Ronaldo managed in his first 100 games for Real Madrid.
The Uruguay international came off the bench to make his 100th appearance for the Catalan giants against Alaves on Saturday, and while he was unable to prevent their shock 2-1 defeat at the Nou Camp, he reached the milestone with an unrivalled record.
Since his £75m transfer from Liverpool to Barcelona in the summer of 2014, Suarez has netted 88 goals and claimed 43 assists for the Catalan giants in all competitions. He has only tasted defeat 12 times, with 80 of his 100 appearances ending in victories.
Suarez is overshadowed by superstar duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in La Liga, but he scored more goals than either in all competitions last season (59) and the stats suggest he deserves to be considered on a similar level.
Messi’s relatively modest record of 41 goals and 14 assists in his first 100 appearances can be explained by the fact that he was just an emerging teenager when he burst onto the scene at Barcelona, but the same can’t be said of Ronaldo.
The Portuguese superstar was aged 24 and already established as one of the world’s best players when he joined Real Madrid from Manchester United in a record-breaking £80m deal in 2009.
But while he scored more goals than Suarez in his first 100 appearances (95), his combined total of 124 goals and assists falls short of Suarez’s 131, and he only won 76 of those games compares to Suarez’s 80.
Thierry Henry is one of his biggest admirers, and while he feels Messi and Ronaldo remain in a league of their own, the Sky Sports pundit is in no doubt that Suarez is the best of his kind.
“He is, by a distance, the best number nine in the world,” he told Sky Sports. “Why? Eighty-eight goals and 43 assists in 100 games. The man has been involved in 131 goals. Where have you seen that from a striker?”
“Now if you bring along Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, those guys are freaks, I don’t count them. But for the mortals, he is the best. People always compare and talk to me about who is the best. He is the best. Leave it there. He is the best in the world as a striker.”
Suarez turns 30 in January, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. Barcelona will be confident that the world’s best striker’s next 100 appearances will be similarly successful.
Source: Skysports
