Ahead of the second-placed Real Madrid by two points, a victory over Valladolid in the final-round encounter on Saturday would confirm the La Liga crown for Atletico Madrid.
Alongside the club and its fans, even experts are of the opinion that the Diego Simeone-coached side is the favourite to win the title this season. And the man playing a pivotal role for the team is Luis Suarez, emphasised Javier Mascherano and Diego Forlan.
“When Suarez had to leave Barcelona (at the end of last season), Atletico took advantage of that situation and brought him in. It benefited them enormously,” Surarez’s former Uruguay teammate and and 2010 World Cup Golden Ball winner Forlan, now a La Liga ambassador, said during a virtual global conference.
“A great goal-scorer that Suarez is, his goals have been immensely important to Atletico and very decisive as well, like the last one he scored on their last match day (versus Osasuna) which allowed them to be on track to win the league,” Forlan added.
Mascherano had similar views, though as someone who made over 200 appearances for Barcelona, he was equally disappointed that the Catalan club couldn’t retain Suarez.
“During the pre-season when Luis had to leave Barcelona, that had a great impact particularly on those of us who had the opportunity to play with him. Luis is not just what he represents on the pitch, but off the pitch as well,” the former Argentina defensive midfielder said.
“He started the season very, very well. In the last stretch when he was injured, the team suffered. But the other day against Osasuna, he scored such an important goal to calm the situation for Atletico, allowing them to play the final-round game without looking at the result of any other matches.
“Luis’s contribution has been very important for Atletico. But unfortunately, for those of us who love Barcelona, we would’ve loved to see him stay in Barcelona,” Mascherao rued.
‘Different’ approach
What also stood out for Atletico this season was their ability to counter-attack and trying to seize the initiative from the onset, pointed out Luis Garcia. Alongside Suarez, players like Yannick Carrasco and Marcos Llorente have also made their share of contribution for Atletico, Garcia mentioned.
“The way they’ve played and thought has been different this time. It’s no longer a team that’s able to organise the backline very well, but it also counter-attacked effectively. It’s been a combative team and also able to take the initiative and control proceedings from the early stages of the game, which is different from the way it played in the past,” the former Liverpool and Atletico attacking midfielder said.
“Also, a guy like Carrasco made a great contribution after coming from China and Korea, despite the fact that he wasn’t meant to be such an important player at the start of the season. Llorente too has been a key player because of his goal-scoring capacity as well as the workload he can take.”
