The chants emanating from the Camp Nou terraces were incongruous with what was actually happening on the field.
Perhaps Barcelona's fans hoped that their cheering would become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Cheer it, and it will come. Celebrate, and something worthy of celebrating will happen."Luis Suarez! … Luis Suarez! … Luis Suarez!"
It didn't.
Once again, Suarez, their $100 million summer acquisition (or whatever the amount is now, with the Euro plummeting relative to the U.S. Dollar) had failed to deliver much of anything.
In the 36th minute, he had been set up by the sometimes masterful, sometimes forgettable Ivan Rakitic. The Croatian was masterful this time, volleying a looping pass into the Uruguay forward. But Suarez, who has so dominated in recent years with Uruguay and Liverpool, let the ball bounce as he squared up to Atletico Madrid's goal from just a few yards out. He then attempted to hit it on its way back up and shunted the ball off his shin and into the stands.
(Barcelona won Wednesday's quarterfinal first leg in the Copa del Rey anyway. A late penalty won by Sergio Busquets was converted on the rebound by Lionel Messi, whose effort was initially stopped by goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Ten days ago, Barca beat Atletico 3-1.)
But rather than booed for missing his sitter, the fans sang Suarez's name. It didn't sound sarcastic, insofar as you can tell when tens of thousands of people chant something in unison. It didn't sound stunned. It sounded like they were rooting for him to do better.
Because so far, after he served out his months-long ban for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, Suarez has been a bust. Just last season, he'd equaled the Premier League single-season goal-scoring record with 31 tallies, in spite of more time missed through suspensions. Suarez has scored just twice in La Liga. Sure, his five goals overall are fourth on the team. And his nine assists are second. But a lot more was expected.
Later in the game, Suarez perhaps escaped more disciplinary punishment when he seemed to whack opposing defender and countryman Diego Godin in the head. And then, when Godin seemed to touch him lightly with his arm just outside Atletico's box, Suarez took a theatrical swan dive into the box. He didn't deserve a penalty call and didn't get one either.
Suarez has never been afraid of straddling the boundary of legal and acceptable behavior, gladly going over to the other side if his inner warrior deems it necessary. On Wednesday night, though, it felt like he was trying too hard, pushing for something that can't be pushed for.
With Suarez deployed alongside Messi and Neymar, Barca was supposed to have built a "trident" that would have never seen its peer before and might never again. It hasn't worked out that way.
There's always an adjustment period when a star comes to a team like Barcelona, where he isn't The Guy for the first time in his career. Right about now, however, it feels like Suarez could use all the cheers he can get.
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