Diego Forlan: Luis Suarez deserves the Pichichi but dreams of more titles at Barcelona

Along with Robert Lewandwoski, Suarez is the best No 9 in the world at the moment. He is better than he has ever been, stronger, fitter and more confident, our columnist Diego Forlan writes.

Our columnist says Barcelona's Luis Suarez, centre, has improved his game since joining the Catalans and playing alongside players such as Lionel Messi, right. REUTERS/Albert Gea

Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan’s column is written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.

"Who was the last before Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Pichichi award for being the top scorer in Spain?"

It is a good question, one I have heard a few times. I know the answer too: me.

But not for long, only for a few more days. We will come to that.

In 2009, I scored 32 goals in 33 games for Atletico Madrid to win the boot-shaped trophy named after the legendary Athletic Bilbao striker for a second time.

In 2005, I had won it with Villarreal with 25 goals, a huge lift to my confidence after mixed fortunes in England. I won the European Golden Boot, too.

The 32 goals in 2009 were the most since the Brazilian Ronaldo scored 24 in 1997. Yet both Crisitano Ronaldo and Messi have scored a lot more since. Ronaldo got 48 last season, Messi 50 in 2012.

I was proud of my award, but not because it is an individual award. If you think about yourself you will win nothing. And I would not have won anything without my teammates. I told them that.

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When you play football for a living, the first thing you want to do is play. Plenty of footballers do not have that luxury. Then you want to stay fit and play well in a winning team.

Again, there are many footballers who are not in that position. When you are a goalscorer like me, you want to score regularly.

Again, there are a lot of strikers who struggle. When you are doing all that and the team is achieving its aims, the Pichichi is a beautiful bonus on top of everything else.

With Villarreal, we achieved our aim of Uefa Champions League football for the first time. With Atletico, we got the club back in the Champions League after a long absence.

Both of those were more important than finishing top scorer, but of course, I was happy to be the top scorer in a great league full of some of football’s best players.

My good friend Luis Suarez is going to win the award this year. With a game to play against Granada away on Saturday, he has scored 37 times for Barcelona. Ronaldo is second with 34.

Cristiano could score four at Deportivo, but Luis is in great form, with 10 goals in his past four league games.

Only three of his goals have been penalties, four had come from his head and none have come from free kicks. Messi has scored four from free kicks.

The rest, 30 of them, have been with his feet from open play.

Along with Robert Lewandwoski, Suarez is the best No 9 in the world at the moment. He is better than he has ever been, stronger, fitter and more confident.

He is living in a great city surrounded by family and playing in a fantastic team alongside the best player in the world and one of the best in Neymar. That has improved him.

There have been other improvements in the player I first played against when he was with Uruguay’s Under 20s as they prepared for their World Cup in Canada.

It was our strongest first team and we gave them a tough practice match. Suarez was already aguerrido – a warrior, a soldier who has been through war, a fighter for every ball. He stood out.

So how has he improved? Experience has made him time his runs better. He also knows when not to make a run. His reading of the game is better and everything has come together for him in Barcelona after improving year after year at Ajax and then Liverpool.

Read more: Catch up on all of Diego Forlan's past columns

He is not just about goals. Suarez has made 16 league assists this season, more than any other player in a major European league.

Ask him what he would rather win between the Pichichi and the league and he would say the latter. I know what he is like, he is a friend and we speak frequently.

When he came through the ranks of the Uruguay team, he had a thirst for knowledge and would always ask me about playing in England or Spain against all the greatest teams.

I told him what I knew and he listened. I wanted him to be the best he could. A brilliant Luis Suarez is better for Uruguay than a bad Suarez.

I saw him watching me one day in the dressing room as I cut my socks. He asked what I was doing. I explained that the socks which clubs give you are too thick, but you have to wear them because they are kit.

I worked out a way of wearing thinner socks around my feet, which I preferred, but still letting the club socks show. He soon copied me and still does it to this day.

We speak and message a lot. Now it is me who asks him questions and wishes him well, though not against my old club Atletico Madrid. But when Atletico beat Barca I say nothing. He would know how I feel.

He likes a joke. He will send me messages from what he has seen of me playing back in Uruguay. I play for Penarol; he was with Nacional, our great rivals. We know where we stand.

The main thing is that Suarez is playing well in a successful team, scoring lots of goals and that he has realised his immense potential.

That is good for our country, too. It was a pleasure to play alongside him and take Uruguay to the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup and win the Copa America in 2011 and it will be a pleasure to see him lift the Pichichi at the weekend.

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