Should Luis Suarez be handed his first Barcelona start in Saturday’s showdown with Real Madrid?
That was the subject of debate on this week’s Revista de la Liga ahead of the first El Clasico clash of the season, which is live on Sky Sports 5 on Saturday evening.
Suarez signed for Barcelona from Liverpool this summer, but has not been able to play due to the four-month ban he received for biting bite Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
His suspension is up this weekend, but should Barca boss Luis Enrique throw him straight into the team at the home of their bitterest rivals?
The Revista panel – Guillem Balague, Nayim and Graham Hunter – were divided. Here’s the case for and against.
GRAHAM HUNTER: I think he will start. I’m not advocating that he should; I don’t have a personal preference and I’m aware that when professionals say he’s not ready then you have to listen, but listen to the players around him talking about how he’s playing and what shape he’s in. Listen to Luis Enrique and how animated he is in defence of how fit he is, how much stamina he has and how aggressive this new player has been. The signs are they are ready to play him. Each of the two clubs have massive games to play this week. Who’s to say it’s not imperative that he plays because not all Barcelona strikers come through the week fit? My opinion is the tom-tom drums are saying that the technical staff are ready to play him and he is physically ready.
GUILLEM BALAGUE: Talking to some of the people at Barcelona, the decision hasn’t been made – but there are enough arguments on both sides to defend either. They are thinking his motivation couldn’t be any higher to be part of this and the way he is training – like a juvenile – will be in his favour. He just really is hungry, he works hard without the ball and all those kinds of things. In terms of the hierarchy of the group, if somebody else comes in new and just plays straight away that’s a bad sign for Pedro – but Pedro has not been playing that well – or Munir – but he is from the B-team. All that is in favour of Luis Suarez playing.
NAYIM: He hasn’t been playing or competing for a long, long time. He needs time to get fit to compete. Maybe he is fit to play 20 minutes, 25 minutes or half-an-hour, but obviously he is not ready for 90 minutes. Obviously he is going to be very important for Barcelona in the future, but in this game it is important to play people who are fit and competitive. For Suarez it has been a long time since the last competitive real game. Seventeen weeks is a long time [without football] to play in the Bernabeu against one of the best teams in the world.
GUILLEM BALAGUE: Barcelona are worried about one thing. To be in the position he has got to play, which is in front of Lionel Messi, he has got to do a lot of runs in behind the defence constantly for spaces to appear both for himself and especially for Messi too. If he does that continuously, they feel he may have only 40 minutes in his legs. Is it going to be one of those where psychologically and football-wise you actually have got enough to scare Real Madrid or are they waiting to make an impact in the second half?
So will Suarez start? If you’re reading this on a desktop device then have your say in the comments box below and tune in to Real Madrid v Barcelona from 5pm, Saturday on Sky Sports 5.
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