Did Suarez' injury deprive us of his best season as a Barça player?

Short answer: no. Long answer: it's possible, because with little more than half of the course played, Luis Suarez had signed his second-best offensive contribution in Barcelona since he landed first arrived from Liverpool.

Suarez made his debut as a Barcelona player in a difficult season, carrying a penalty that prevented him from making his debut until well into the season. Nevertheless, his figures were remarkable, and he ended up participating in 1.17 goals (scoring or assisting) for every 90 minutes of play, average time used in this study.

He stayed above 1 for another two years, reaching his peak (1.50 goals or assists in that 90-minute period) in 2015-16. The next three years he gradually declined, bottoming out last season.

In 2018-19, questioned from start to finish, he had to settle for 0.65 goals, both in scoring or assisting. At the end of the course there were those who were asking themselves about his role. "He's not here to play for Barcelona," they said. Deluded.

Because despite everything that always surrounds Suarez (his bad temper, his tendency to get out of shape), the Uruguayan came back and did it. And to prove it, this statistic.

In the 2019-20 season, Suarez broke all his records except for his great season in 2016. And then came the fateful Spanish Super Cup: Barça was eliminated at the first sign of change, Valverde was sacked and the Uruguayan decided to go through surgery.

His season came to an end, and despite having played just over half of it, he signed some remarkable figures. He gave 0.51 assists for every 90 minutes of play, and scored 0.67 goals in that same period of time.

That is to say, he participated in a decisive way in 1,18 goals of Barcelona for each 90 minutes that he played. In other words, less accurate but more visual, Suarez went out on goal per game, scored or assisted, until his injury.

In his career as a Barcelona player, Luis Suarez has averaged 0.7 goals and 0.37 assists. This year he has missed some goals, but he has compensated for it in a comfortable way by giving assists, as he has surpassed that average of 1.07.

However, just when it seemed his season was over, the coronavirus appeared to give him the opportunity to improve these figures even further. Figures that only a chosen few, like Lionel Messi, are able to sign, season after season (playing a remarkable number of games, of course).

Everything seems to indicate that Suarez will reappear when football returns. The question now is, will he do so at his pre-injury level, and will he keep up the pace, finishing the season as the second best of his Barcelona career?