Luis Suarez opens up on 'strained' relationship with Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman

Atletico Madrid striker Luis Suarez recently opened up about his exit from Barcelona last year and claimed that Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman wasn’t honest to him about the management’s decisions.

Suarez departed Barcelona in a dramatic manner last season after Koeman judged him surplus to demands. He then joined Barcelona's arch-rivals Atletico Madrid ahead of the 2020/21 season and has been instrumental in his side's La Liga triumph. In 47 appearances for the club, he has a total of 25 goals and three assists.

In a conversation with Radio station Cope, Suarez revealed that Koeman wasn’t honest about his intentions and left him out of the squad for the club’s three friendly games. He also added that the Dutch coach didn’t have the guts to confess to his face.

"Koeman's words were: 'They [the directors] told me to tell you". "I was made to train separately [from the first team] and left out of the squad for the three friendlies. Then, Koeman said that if my future was not resolved, he was counting on me for the first game of the season against Villarreal. That is when you see that he didn't have the character to tell me that he didn't want me himself," said Luis Suarez.

Luis Suarez warns Xavi against taking up a role as Barcelona manager

Barcelona are going through a rough phase as they lost both of their opening Champions League games. They were defeated 3-0 by German giants Bayern Munich followed by a loss to Benfica with the same scoreline.

Manager Ronald Koeman has faced the majority of scrutiny for Blaugrana’s poor display and is reported to be sacked by the team management. As per reports, former Barcelona player Xavi, who was a legend for the club, could take up the role of manager.

However, Luis Suarez warns Xavi and opines him to think before making a decision. He also added that even if Xavi agrees to become the coach of Barcelona, he would be as great as he was as a player.

"As a soccer fan and what he has done as a player, I don't think that today, tomorrow, or the day after is the time to catch the team. He is intelligent and knows the difficulty of the club. He must wait for the moment. He has colleagues inside with whom he will have to make decisions and it will be difficult. I see him as a very qualified coach and he would be as great a coach as he was as a player,” said Suarez to SPORT.

Image: AP