La Liga Preview: Contract Signed, Suarez Ready to Resume Battle with Espanyol

He doesn't like them, and they don't like him, which, ironically, is just how he likes it. Being loathed on one side of a divide is not just the only way he knows how but also how he knows he's doing it right. "To be loved is to be fortunate," the American writer Minna Antrim once said, "but to be hated is to achieve distinction."

Somewhere, Luis Suarez should have that tattooed on himself. No player in world football revels in his ability to get under the skin of others more than him. He's the most tormenting of class bullies, the one who nicks your lunch money every week but who, for ensuring your retaliation is seen by all, manages to land you in detention as well. Now one of his favourites is back for some more. 

On Sunday, Suarez will resume his playground war with Espanyol at the Camp Nou, fresh from renewing his contract with Barcelona that will see him remain in Catalonia until 2021.

"It was the decision that we all wanted, both the club and me, we have a great relationship," he said on Thursday as Barcelona announced the deal, per the club's official website. He's right. Part of being hated on the other side is that you're always loved on your own. When the matter of that other side was put to Suarez on Thursday, he said with a surprisingly straight face: "Any derby is nice to play in."

For a man who would be required by television to wear a muzzle if pitch microphones were any more prominent, the Uruguayan is oddly defusing with his words away from the playing surface. The black-hooded version of himself gets hidden away. Of course, you knew what he meant when he said "nice to play in," but few of his derby opponents—from David Moyes to Pau Lopez—would agree that derbies with him are in any way nice. 

From mocking you by celebrating with a dive in front of your technical area to berating you while nose-to-nose, the Barcelona striker knows how to push your buttons in a derby. It's the point of Suarez; the key is not to load him with ammunition, but this is Espanyol. They've already given him a bazooka. 

Football might too often be presented as a battle, but between these two, "battle" is the operative word. In January, Barcelona and Espanyol met three times in the space of 11 days, the detention kids essentially thrown in a room locked from the outside for two weeks. That level of familiarity is good for no one; nastiness and brutality was the only way it could go.  

In the first meeting, Espanyol kicked the crap out of Barcelona in a 0-0 draw to such an extent that AS (in Spanish) dubbed Cornella "Stalingrad." And that was the least controversial of them all. 

Bazooka handed to him, Suarez spent the next clash at the Camp Nou in the Copa del Rey in his own unique form of "God Mode."

Pau got a mouthful and then some. Papakouli Diop got one too. Pau went on to stamp on Lionel Messi and Diop got himself sent off, falling for the oldest trick in the book. Suarez and Co. then waited for Espanyol in the tunnel afterward. A dust-up and verbal barbs ensued. Though the Uruguayan got himself suspended—and there's doubt as to whether he should have been—as is his way, he'd taken a few with him. 

It's that sort of Suarez who tends to be the most lethal version. He's at his best when treading the line between cunning and recklessness, and right now you sense he needs to rediscover some of that. 

Barcelona's No. 9 hasn't been quite the same this season. His 10 goals in the league suggest nothing's changed but something has, just enough. Normally so aggressive, normally such a pain in the arse and a horrible bastard to play against, Suarez has been a little subdued this term, his crash-and-bash work not quite the same, his use of that Kardashian-like arse—to borrow a phrase from B/R's Alex Dunn—less prominent. 

The renewal of his contract at the Camp Nou this week will be a boost, but perhaps more than anything he needs a derby, a Suarez occasion, to get himself going. Being put in a tumble dryer with Espanyol might be ideal; he doesn't like them, and they don't like him. That extends to everyone from both sides, too. 

There's always been some spice in the Catalan derby even in the absence of competitiveness, and you sense it's starting to go up a notch—in both ways.  

These are teams, clubs and fanbases that don't like one another. After the second of January's meetings that Barcelona won 4-1, Gerard Pique mocked the Espanyol fans who consider themselves the "marvellous minority."

"They call themselves the 'marvellous minority,' and they're in such a minority that they can't even fill their ground," he said, according to Marca. 

When Pique and his team-mates arrived at Cornella the following week, a banner directed at Pique's wife, Shakira, read: "Shakira is everyone's." Another referencing Shakira's ex-partner read, "Antonio de la Rua, everything started with you." Another pointing to Pau's stamp on Messi said: "Pau, your foot shows us the way."

This has become personal, the rivalry heating up, one with social and political undercurrents and also some misconceptions. Barcelona have rarely been consumed by their neighbours but their neighbours have often been consumed by them. Espanyol feel marginalised in their own region, forgotten about and denied the chance to be seen as identifiable with Catalonia when they, in certain ways, feel more Catalan than Barcelona. 

Barcelona, after all, was founded by a Swiss and works to a Dutch ideology on the pitch. The name "Espanyol" is a stab at that foreign identity. The two huge banners unveiled at Cornella for the third of January's clashes were a reminder of that, and now they're keen to remind Barcelona that they can play, too. 

This has been a lopsided derby for some time, but Espanyol now look to be on the move. Quique Sanchez Flores' men have won four of their last six in the league and are unbeaten in their last 10 in all competitions. 

The new-found strength has started with resilience at back. After a porous start to the season, Flores has prioritised clean sheets and compact defending. Of the former, his team have achieved seven in nine games, one of them against Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Caldron.

Though it's still only early doors under new, ambitious ownership, a structure or an identity is building. Flores maintains that a top-10 finish is the goal, but you wonder whether they might be able to expect more than that. "The fans have the right to dream," the manager said, per Sport (in Spanish), after last week's win over Sporting Gijon. 

A win over Barcelona at the Camp Nou will be exactly the sort of thing fans are dreaming of. For them, there's nothing sweeter, nothing quite so fulfilling. But doing so will require getting past Suarez, and that's not easy when you're the ones who've armed him.  

Not to Be Missed

• The talk in Madrid is of crisis, but unusually it doesn't centre on them. Instead, it's the other lot this time. On Monday, Villarreal dispatched Atletico Madrid 3-0 at El Madrigal—Atletico's third loss in five in the league; their fourth loss in seven. Atleti haven't looked like this for years, and the sensations aren't good. "It is the most difficult [run we've had under Diego Simeone], for sure," captain Gabi told Cadena Ser's El Larguero (h/t ESPN FC). On Saturday, they host Las Palmas amid a feeling that the beginning of the end for this crop is here. 

• Real Madrid being away in Japan for the Club World Cup means their scheduled opponents for this round, Valencia, have the weekend off. You could view that as a good thing for a club on the verge of tearing itself apart, but it also means they could finish the year in the bottom three if Sporting Gijon can get at least a point from Villarreal on Saturday. The scary thing is that you wouldn't be surprised if they stayed there a whole lot longer. 

• It's fun to have Samir Nasri back at Sevilla. It's also significant that Sevilla have the chance to go to second in the table ahead of the Catalan derby when they meet Malaga on Saturday night. A win would leave them just four points behind leaders Real Madrid, too. Jorge Sampaoli's men aren't going away...

• Few will give a stuff, and that's understandable. But if you lament European football's drift toward a landscape where only a handful of monstrous clubs matter, then Leganes vs. Eibar on Sunday is for you. For size and for resources, these clubs shouldn't be here: two tiny clubs who could barely fill a tenth of the Santiago Bernabeu if they brought their entire stadiums with them. And yet, here they are, defying the odds and meeting in La Liga. Romance in football isn't dead yet.