Luis Suarez tries to work the ball past Oman's Abdullsallam al-Mukhain while in action for Uruguay this week
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Suarez celebrates scoring Liverpool's second goal in their 3-2 win over Norwich last season
Luis Suarez claims Liverpool would never have mounted their unexpected title challenge last season without him.
The Uruguay international scored 31 Premier League
goals as the Reds finished runners-up to Manchester City and insists he
left Anfield a happy man this summer, when a £75million deal took him
to Barcelona.
That
contrasted sharply with his feelings at the start of his final campaign
in England, for which he was suspended as he was still serving some of
his 10-game ban for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic, and he was made
to train on his own after trying to manufacture a move away.
While he was
serving the remainder of his ban Liverpool picked up 10 points out of a
possible 15 but having been reintegrated into the squad the striker
returned with 19 goals in his first 12 league appearances as the Reds
gathered increasing momentum on their way to second place.
'I
appreciate all the work the team did but I missed six matches and
scored all those goals in the Premier League without being the
penalty-taker,' Suarez told Barca's official website.
'The
truth is that I left very happy because if I hadn't had the attitude
and mentality to want to lead the team forward, I don't think Liverpool
would have done as well as they did either.
'Getting back into the Champions League was another target I had in mind.'
He
continued: 'Personal success is always welcome and makes you happy,
because that's recognition of the good work you have done,' said Suarez,
who is due to receive the Golden Shoe for being Europe's joint-leading
scorer from Liverpool icon Kenny Dalglish in Barcelona this week.
'But
I put the team ahead of that and last season Liverpool came so close to
winning the Premier League, which would have been spectacular.'
LUIS SUAREZ'S LIVERPOOL RECORD
Luis Suarez signed for Liverpool for £22.8m in 2010 and scored 82 goals for the club before leaving for Barcelona this summer.
2010-2011: 13 games, 4 goals
2011-2012: 39 games, 17 goals
2012-2013: 44 games, 30 goals
2013-2014: 37 games, 31 goals
Total: 133 games, 82 goals
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