Sevilla-Barcelona: Luis Suárez ends Copa del Rey final hoodoo
The Barcelona striker didn't find the net in 2015, was injured in 2016 and was unable to play in 2017, but got on the scoresheet on Saturday.
Luis Suárez finally broke his Copa del Rey final duck on Saturday, grabbing a brace as Barcelona thrashed Sevilla 5-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
With Barça seeking a fourth consecutive Copa triumph, Suárez turned Philippe Coutinho's 14th-minute pass into an empty net to put the Catalans ahead and score in Spain's domestic cup final for the first time in his career.
After Leo Messi had doubled Barça's lead, Suárez then slotted in his second of the night late on in the opening 45, before second-half goals by Andrés Iniesta and Philippe Coutinho rounded off a thumping victory for the Blaugrana.
Drew blank in 2015, off injured in 2016 and missed 2017
Against Athletic Bilbao in 2015, he assisted a Neymar goal but couldn’t find the net himself and the following year he was injured during the final and subsequently missed the first two games of Uruguay’s unsuccessful Copa América campaign.
That season was arguably Suárez’s finest, the striker finding the net 40 times and winning the European Golden Boot for the second time. The image of Suárez ripping off his bib and smacking the bench in frustration as Óscar Tábarez refused to bring his half-fit star on is the enduring image of that tournament.
Suárez's first final since 2016
Last season was possibly the lowest ebb of Suárez’s Copa career. The Barça striker was sent off in the semi-final against Atlético Madrid by referee Jesús Gil Manzano – also in charge this year – for incurring two yellow cards, one for a tackle from behind on Juanfran and another for an elbow on Koke.
Barcelona appealed against the second caution but to no avail, with Gil Manzano noting in his match report that the Uruguayan “took a considerable time to leave the pitch and paid little attention to my instructions.”
Suárez had already found the net in the Metropolitano this season in the league and, having done so again on Saturday, has brought his Copa hoodoo to an end.
