Although it is always difficult to fight against the current proliferation of images, in color and from all angles, Luis Suárez Miramontes (A Coruña 1935-Milan 2023) is a firm candidate for positions of honor in the list of the best Spanish footballers of all time. time. When he turned 18 (before it was prohibited) he made his debut in the First Division with Deportivo, in December 1953. And he did it at Les Corts, against an unstoppable Barcelona that won six to one. As soon as the game was over, the great Barça star of the time, Laszy Kubala, notified the board and with his still rudimentary Spanish told them: "It is extremely important to sign that 10. He has everything: vision of the game, he knows how to change the ball, very good". Years later, Kubala added that what impressed him the most that day was that Suárez caressed it rather than hitting the ball. Luisito's Barça career was about to begin.
Suárez played for Barcelona from 1954 to 1961 (176 official matches, 80 goals) and amazed with his agile, fast, efficient style, with great dribbling, millimeter passes and a formidable shot. A game organizer who became known as the architect. Those who saw him play retain the memory of some of his unlikely goals, even picking up the ball from the defense and dodging rivals in a slalom of cinematographic elegance until he stood before the goalkeeper and beat him. Fairly in 1960, France Football magazine, through a vote of European journalists, awarded him the Ballon d'Or, the first and still today the only one won by a Spanish footballer (with the exception of Alexia Putellas in the female category). In an interview with this newspaper, he explained a few years ago that he always had the feeling of deserving another Ballon d'Or, "in 1961 and in 1964, already at Inter, I came second. In 1964 I won everything: the Italian league, the European Cup, the Intercontinental and, with Spain, the European Championship. But...". In that triumphant edition of 1960, behind Suárez (54 votes) were Puskas (37), Uwe Seeler (33), Di Stéfano (32) and Yashin (28).
Even Pelé, on the occasion of a friendly for Santos at the Camp Nou (4-3 for the Catalans with Luisito as conductor) had a few words of praise: "I may be a better scorer, explained O Rei, but he is without a doubt faster". Suárez was an advance to the modernity of soccer.
Suárez's career was accompanied in his best years, at Barcelona and at Inter since 1961, by the magician Helenio Herrera, the coach who knew how to make the most of his qualities. No one better than HH to write that Suárez “was the direct heir of Di Stéfano. Disciplined, with an exemplary life and a great team organizer. Not only was he a superclass, he was also a brave and willful player: when the Kubala, Czibor, etc., washed their hands of it in the opposite field, Luis Suárez ended up covered in bruises”. The injury list of him wearing the Barça shirt was also extensive.
With Barcelona, Suárez won the League twice, the Cup twice and the Fairs Cup twice. But the end of him was sad. With a cainite division between him and Kubala open (by the fans and the press, but not between them), and faced with a distressing economic situation, Barcelona, chaired by a management board of circumstances, accepted the fabulous offer from Inter Milan and transferred Suárez for 25 million pesetas, the highest amount ever paid by a footballer. It had cost Barça half a million pesetas seven years earlier. The sale of Suárez, the first for financial reasons in the history of Barça, was a tremendous mistake that deprived the Barça club of a good part of the best years of the Galician footballer.
Already at Inter, Suárez contributed to the conquest of three leagues, two European Cups and two Intercontinentals. He hung up his boots at Sampdoria, at the age of 38, and later coached for a long time, including the Spanish team at the 1990 World Cup.
"Kubala helped me and taught me many things, we even went to train together in the afternoon, on our own," explained Suárez, defending his friendship with the Hungarian footballer. The Barca fans, marked by sentimentality, refused to see that Suárez was the perfect replacement, the future, and that Kubala was running out of rope. It is also true, although it is usually ignored, that once the importance of the financial offer that Inter personally made to Suárez was known, the player, already fed up with so much controversy at the Camp Nou, was one of those most interested in changing his career. aires and pressured the board to accept the transfer.
Suárez's last game as a Barça player was the fateful final in Bern, in which on May 31, 1961, Barcelona lost the European Cup against Benfica (3-2). Directly from the Wankdorf Stadion, the Galician footballer took a plane to Italy where Herrera was waiting for him with open arms.
Despite settling permanently in Italy, Suárez never lost his Galician accent or the peculiar retrance in his appreciations, as was easy to verify not long ago in his radio collaborations. He never forgot his origins either, and in his early years as a Barça player it was not surprising that he spent part of his vacation selling meat in the family business in A Coruña or playing ball with children on the beach. In the same way, with another Barça footballer, Goicolea, he set up a knitwear business in the Les Corts neighborhood, Goicosua.
