Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde insists he is not concerned by Luis Suarez’s lack of potency in front of goal.
The Uruguayan marksman is currently enduring a barren run of five matches without a goal, while Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Lyon extended his Champions League away drought to 1,235 days.
Why is Suarez struggling in front of goal? Five key things to know…
- Suarez started the season like a house on fire but his form has nosedive in recent weeks.
- The 32-year-old has been criticised for not converting big chances.
- He fired another blank in the Champions League against Lyon at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on Tuesday.
- Across Europe’s top five leagues, Barca rank 17th for chances created per 90 minutes (11.3), which may explain Suarez’s lack of goals.
- However, he has missed golden chances in recent outings and has now gone 24 hours of Champions League playing time without scoring.
As such, Barca will contest the decisive round-of-16 clash against Lyon without an away goal when the two sides meet at the Camp Nou next month.
Suarez was notably lukewarm in the match, once again proving ineffective in front of goal, but Valverde has jumped to his defence and has backed the seasoned striker to rediscover his former goalscoring form.
“I would worry if he did not generate scoring chances, which is what is asked of a striker,” Valverde told reporters.
“He always has chances and if not, he generates them and is a headache for the rival. And, in any case, he is linked well with the occasions we’ve created.
“Football is a matter of success. If the opposition wastes occasions I get nervous; if we waste them, it only bothers me.”
And it wasn’t just Valverde who offered his support to the struggling Suarez, with third-ranked captain Gerard Pique also defending his teammate.
“When you have a bad run like this one you can probably get a little obsessed,” Pique said.
“If Luis Suarez has shown one thing it is that he has a lot of goals in him.”
Barca travel to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to take on Sevilla on Saturday, looking to extend their lead at the summit of La Liga.
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Lyon draw a “dangerous result”
While Valverde was not concerned by Suarez’s goalscoring drought, he was very agitated by the result in France, believing the goalless stalemate could come back to haunt the club on March 13.
“We have created a lot of chances, but football is a matter of success and today we have not had it,” he added. “The tie is in the air, 0-0 is a dangerous result, we will not kid ourselves.
“I do not think it is very easy to win away from home in the Champions League. We have absolutely dominated and they have not lost any match in this competition so far this season.
“Lyon had chances in the beginning but we came back well and we controlled the game until the end.”
The post Valverde backs Suarez despite extending Champions League away drought to 1,235 days appeared first on Squawka News.
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