Unpredictable Luis Suarez Has Barcelona's Champions League Bid in His Hands

CAMP NOU, Barcelona — Luis Suarez is a bizarre football player, and he showed it once more on Tuesday night, as his double saw Barcelona come from behind to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League.

Suarez makes a lot of mistakes on the pitch, but somehow things seem to end up right for him despite them. He also makes a lot of correct decisions, as reflected by his haul of 45 goals so far this season, making him the club’s top goalscorer.

Against Atletico Suarez had a bad game and yet still ended up being the match-winner, equalising then sending Barcelona ahead, after Fernando Torres had broken the deadlock by drilling through Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s legs.

Like many of his team-mates, Suarez did not impress in the first half. Barcelona only had one shot on target in the first 45, and it came from Javier Mascherano, a player who has never scored for the club.

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Atletico are superb at defending in their own half, allowing their opponents plenty of the ball while still keeping them away from dangerous areas.

Suarez never received the ball in the box in the first half and ended up moving towards the right flank to try to find some space away from the suffocating Diego Godin.

And in the second half, while Lionel Messi and Neymar stepped up their game, Suarez remained anonymous, still stuck, despite Torres’ red card meaning there should have been more space.

In fact, until more than an hour had passed, Suarez’s only contributions were to accost Atletico Madrid players.

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During his time in Spain, the Uruguayan has been well behaved. There have been very few noteworthy incidents other than his frequent scoring of important goals.

But that changed here. Frustrated at not getting the ball, Suarez took a wild kick out at defender Juanfran, an infraction he was lucky was not spotted by the officials.

In the second half, too, he raised a hand to Filipe Luis’ face and was only booked, when others have seen red for similar offences. Across the two incidents, it’s fair to say he should have joined Torres back in the dressing room.

"I don't know what these guys have to do to get sent off like us," huffed and puffed Filipe Luis after the game, per Sport. "The referees protect Barcelona. There's fear at UEFA that they could go out. All this is sad."

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Atletico’s complaints about Suarez not being sent off were fair. But that doesn’t detract from the moments of quality from the striker which sealed Barcelona’s comeback and send them to the Vicente Calderon next week with an advantage.

First, he was in the right place at the right time—as he so often is, and that’s no accident—to convert from close range when Jordi Alba’s cross-shot flew off target in the 63rd minute.

And then he headed home expertly when Dani Alves delivered a lovely ball from the right 11 minutes later. Two perfect centre-forward finishes from the best centre-forward in world football.

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Suarez, along with Messi and Neymar, will be leading the charge when Barcelona head to the Spanish capital for the second leg.

He spoke himself after the game, explaining how he was feeling good about the return, because Atletico would have to come out and attack Barcelona.

Per Sport, Suarez said: “We are relaxed as they will be obliged to [attack to] win the game. If we score one, they will have to score two.”

And as long as Suarez keeps a cool head and maintains his focus on those goals, the likelihood is Barcelona will progress to the semi-finals, as they bid to be the first team to retain the Champions League.