Suarez shows his good and dark sides again
Barcelona’s Luis Suarez was at his ruthless best and also again caught up in controversy as he scored twice to secure a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid in their Champions League quarterfinal, first leg, yesterday.
The Uruguayan kicked out at defender Juanfran in the first half in an off-the-ball incident and, after equalising just past the hour mark, got a yellow card for striking Filipe Luis in the face moments before heading the winner in the 74th minute.
An unhappy Filipe Luis said he thought Uruguay international Suarez was lucky to stay on the pitch. ‘‘It was an aggression, a red card,’’ he said.
Fernando Torres had given Atletico the lead after 25 minutes but was sent off in the 35th for two fouls in quick succession. Luis also criticised German referee Felix Brych’s decision to dismiss the forward.
‘‘The sending off is unjust and changed the game. Barcelona are protected. When you play against them you realise that they are a very powerful club,’’ he said.
‘‘You realise the fear when Barcelona could get knocked out. It would hurt Uefa a lot. I don’t know what they have to do for someone to send one of them off.’’
Suarez now has eight goals in the Champions League this season and 45 in all competitions.
He was also on target when Barca came from behind to beat Atletico in La Liga in January and has played in all seven matches against Diego Simeone’s side since joining the Nou Camp side in 2014, all of which the Catalans have won.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich will take a slender advantage into the second leg of their quarterfinal against Benfica after Arturo Vidal’s early goal gave them a 1-0 win.
Vidal headed home after two minutes but the floodgates failed to open after that as Benfica’s defence stayed resolute.
Five-times European champions Bayern had found goals easy to come by in the Champions League this season, blasting 18 in their previous four home matches, but came up against a solid Benfica rearguard as they pushed to extend their advantage.
Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski had a superb chance to add a second in the dying stages but bizarrely opted to try and pass to Philipp Lahm when through on goal and it was wasted.
Bayern got off to a superb start when Vidal put them ahead as the Chilean got on the end of Juan Bernat’s excellent cross to head past Benfica keeper Ederson.
That was not the cue, however, for the expected goal rush as Benfica kept possession despite creating few real chances.
They could have inflicted a punishing blow to Bayern, however, midway through the second half when Jonas’s shot cannoned back of Bayern’s Javi Martinez when the goal was gaping.
Benfica, who came into the game in a rich vein of form having won 19 of their last 20 games in all competitions, might now fancy their chances of causing an upset in next week’s return leg.