Luis Suarez trains with Messi, Inter Miami for first time. Here’s what he had to say

Inter Miami’s Mount Rushmore is finally complete. The one figurehead who was missing from Lionel Messi’s FC Barcelona reunion tour last season is now here.

Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez joined Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and the rest of the Inter Miami team for the first training session of the 2024 season on Saturday morning. After years of being linked to the team, Suarez, who turns 37 later this month, signed a one-year deal with Miami a few days before Christmas.

He looked at home on his first day. He walked onto the practice field with Messi. The team posted a photo of him laughing with his three former Barcelona teammates on a bench after practice.

“It’s nice to remember the great moments we lived together in the club we all dreamed about, Barcelona, and one of the motivations for me coming here was to reunite with them,” Suarez said in his introductory press conference. “But more than anything, we are very ambitious, very professional and we are committed to showing the young talented Inter Miami players that your age doesn’t matter, what matters is the commitment you have on and off the field.”

He added that he never imagined the four would reunite, assuming they would all finish their careers at Barcelona.

“In 2018-19 we were winning everything together and figuring we would all retire together there,” he said. “But I left first, and the others followed one by one. To be together again says a lot about our friendship. We will try to enjoy and win, as we did in Barcelona, because we all have the same competitive DNA.”

Suarez later shared with the Miami Herald that he is especially grateful to be reuniting with his close friend Messi after four years playing on different teams. They formed a strong bond on and off the field during their years in Spain.

Suarez’s wife, Sofia Balbi, whom he started dating at age 15, became good friends with Messi’s wife, Antonela Roccuzzo. His children, Delfina, Benjamin, and Lautaro, have grown up with Messi’s three sons and they will be in school together in Fort Lauderdale.

“My kids are friends with Leo’s kids and that is important for them to feel happy and comfortable in school,” Suarez said. “My wife is friends with Leo’s wife and that support is very important for us as we adapt to the city and day-to-day life here. My kids had to leave all their friends in Brazil in mid-schoolyear, which is difficult and sad for them. Us soccer players have to deal with tough times moving our families and it helps so much having friends here.”

He also expressed his gratitude for his wife’s love and support over their 14-year marriage.

“You cannot succeed on the field if you don’t have a good life off the field, and she is the reason for all of that,” he said. “Outside of soccer, I like to be a good husband, a good father, a normal person, and she helps me with that. There have been times I scored two or three goals and I was very happy when I got home, and she would say, `the game is over, it’s time to be a father and husband now.’

“She also helps me get over anger after losses. She has been with me through very tough moments; and she was my No. 1 supporter, always has my back, and I am so appreciative for that.”

Suarez, nicknamed “El Pistolero” (The Gunslinger) explained the genesis of his trademark finger guns goal celebrations. His wife was around for that, as well.

“It started back when I was at (Dutch club) Ajax and I told my wife and I wanted to have my own goal celebration, but I was very young, I didn’t know then I’d become so famous, so I started looking in the mirror, trying out different celebrations, and I came up with that one,” he said, smiling. “It stuck.”

He plans to be doing a lot of goal celebrations this season but would not venture a prediction of how many goals he would score when a reporter asked.

“I know what I can give, I know how many goals I want to score, but I don’t want to say,” he said. “I’m not like Romario, who said, `I’ll score 30 or 40 goals’ and he would. I prefer to keep it to myself.”

His ongoing battle with chronic knee pain has been well-documented. He said in a radio interview last year that he required injections for pain management before games. But he told the Herald he is feeling much better after treatment during the off-season and felt fine at training on Saturday.

“Right now I feel very good, I don’t need anything other than normal physical therapy that all players get in the preseason,” he said. “I was able to train with no discomfort, and that made me happy.”

Suarez has been able to play through pain, as he scored 27 goals and had 17 assists in 52 appearances for Gremio in 2023. There were doubts about his knees when he signed with Gremio, but he scored five minutes into his debut and had a hat-trick before half-time.

The heavy schedule of the Brazilian season took a toll on his knees; and he began getting injections for the pain. He had signed a two-year contract with Gremio, but last July, after Messi signed with Inter Miami, rumors started that Suarez wanted to leave Brazil to join Inter Miami.

Suarez doesn’t cover ground the way he once did. But he is still a clinical finisher, and the thought of him linking up with Messi, Busquets and Alba should strike fear in opponents.

“Luis looked very good in his first training,” said Inter Miami coach Tata Martino. “Surely, toward the end of the season we will have to take precautions with his knees, but for now he looks in good form. We are expecting what he has done for the past 15 years. We expect a very good version of Suarez after what he did with Gremio.

“We finished the session with 20 minutes of football. It was obvious in those 20 minutes that the four of them have not forgotten how to play together. It was 20 minutes of beautiful football.”

Busquets added: “I’m very excited to be playing with a former teammate. We know what to expect from him. He has scored goals his entire career. He just won best player in the Brazilian league, which is a very challenging league, so we expect him to keep scoring many goals.”

Suarez, a native of Salto, Uruguay, rose to fame in Europe when he signed with Dutch club Ajax in 2007. He scored 81 goals in 110 games for Ajax and then moved to the English Premier League, where Liverpool bought him for $29 million. He scored 69 goals in 110 games with Liverpool and left for Barcelona.

He and Messi quickly became a dynamic duo and Suarez scored 198 goals in six seasons for the Spanish club. He won four La Liga titles, a European Golden Shoe, and a Champions League trophy with Barcelona.

Suárez left Barcelona in the summer of 2020. He joined Spanish club Atlético Madrid and critics said game was on the decline. He responded by scoring 21 goals in 32 games and was a big reason Atlético won its first La Liga title in seven years.

He spent two seasons with Atletico and then moved back to Uruguay to join his boyhood team, Nacional, where he had his debut as a teenager. He led Nacional to the Primeira Division title, scored eight goals in 16 appearances over six months with the club. And then he left for Brazil.

Suarez said he followed MLS for years, and first entertained the idea of joining Inter Miami in 2019. But things didn’t work out until now.

“Inter Miami offered me a nice opportunity to dream of winning the club’s first MLS title, to play with big players, which everybody knows, and adapt to my new team and club and I am motivated by that challenge,” he said. “Coming to the United States with Copa America here this year is another plus. I am excited to get started.”

Inter Miami kicks off its seven-game preseason schedule Jan. 19 against El Salvador’s national team in San Salvador, and will then travel to Dallas, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan. The final preseason game is Feb. 15 at home against Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys, which is Messi’s and Martino’s hometown team. Miami’s MLS season opener is Feb. 21 at home against Real Salt Lake. Tickets are available at intermiamicf.com