A smiling Luis Suarez drove away for the first of many celebrations this season.
Thirty-one to be precise.
The Liverpool striker lifted his shirt to reveal a private message on the most public forums in the middle of a Premier League game televised on Sky Sports.
‘Welcome Benja’ read the underwear.
Suarez really wanted to celebrate the birth of his son and paid homage with a picture of the newborn baby along with daughter Delfina and wife Sofia.
“Los amo (I love her)” continued the shirt.
Six games in the 2013-14 Premier League season and Suarez was back. Unmistakable.
The setback at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland was the first of 31 goals that would almost single-handedly lead Liverpool to their first title in 24 years.
For the next eight months, Suarez was Liverpool’s Tasmanian devil; a purring show of strength by a footballer who is kissed by a genius.
But it was the birth of Benjamin that ultimately set off Suarez’s season of the gods.
“I’m very critical of myself,” he said later in the year. “I noticed that it helps me a lot to play well and to be more calm.
