Suarez gets to 500 career goals: Decoding the key numbers
What's the story
Atletico Madrid forward Luis Suarez has achieved a special milestone. Suarez, who helped Atletico maintain their lead in La Liga, has now scored 500 career goals. Notably, Suarez has netted 437 goals in club career and another 63 for Uruguay. He joins the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Robert Lewandowski in terms of active players with 500 goals. Here's more.
Atletico
Suarez has been a force for Atletico since leaving Barcelona
Suarez sealed a move to Atletico last year after he was not in the plans of Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman. Since joining the Madrid club, Suarez has been a force. He has scored 19 La Liga goals this season (second-highest), besides contributing with two assists. He has netted 21 goals across competitions for Atletico.
Barcelona
Suarez enjoyed plenty of success at Barca
Suarez spent six seasons at Barcelona, scoring 198 goals in 283 appearances. Notably, he scored 147 goals in La Liga for Barca in just 191 appearances. During his time at Barca, Suarez won a total of 13 trophies, including four La Liga honors and a Champions League. He is the third-highest scorer for Barcelona after Lionel Messi and Cesar Rodriguez.
Club career
His time at other former clubs
Suarez started his senior career with Uruguayan club Nacional, scoring 12 goals in 35 appearances. He moved to Groningen in the Dutch League, scoring 15 goals in 37 games. A season later, he joined Dutch giants Ajax. After having spent four seasons with the club, Suarez ended with 111 goals in 159 appearances. He also scored 82 goals in 133 games for Liverpool.
Uruguay
Suarez is the highest goal-scorer for Uruguay
Suarez has been a prolific scorer for Uruguay. He has netted in 13 successive years between 2007 to 2020. In total, he has racked up 63 goals in 116 matches. His best returns were in 2011, when he scored 10 goals in 13 games. Suarez is the highest scorer for Uruguay and is only one of the two players with 50-plus goals.
Awards
Notable awards won by Suarez
He won Dutch Footballer of the Year in 2009-10, scoring 35 league goals, besides winning the Golden Boot. He won the Premier League Player of the Season (2013-14) and the Premier League Golden Boot (31 goals). He has won two European Golden Shoes (2013-14, 2015-16). He is the only player other than Messi and Ronaldo to win the Pichichi award in the last decade.