Luis Suarez is the key to Barcelona victory in Champions League final

For the reams of positive words that have been penned about Barcelona in the build-up to Saturday’s Champions League final, Luis Enrique’s team aren’t totally immaculate.

They’ve actually slipped up in recent weeks. After going 2-1 ahead against Bayern Munich in the second-leg of their Champions League semi-final, the La Liga giants toiled in the second half and ended up losing 3-2. Then, on the final day of the 2014/15 La Liga season, the Blaugrana let a two-goal lead slip at home to relegation battlers Deportivo la Coruna.

Granted, both matches were dead, with a sizable lead in the tie and the title already secured, respectively. But there was someone as Barca scratched around for rhythm in both of those matches: Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan has been the key in Barcelona’s turnaround in fortunes in 2015. In the early stages of his career in the Catalonians’ colors, Suarez failed to establish a defined role in the bespoke system that this unique team plays. He also found it tough to emerge from the vast, celestial shadow that’s cast by Lionel Messi before the Nou Camp’s steep walls.

But Enrique placed an immense amount of trust in the former Liverpool striker when searching for a profitable formula. He gave him an extended run as a central striker, shifting Messi away from his preferred false No. 9 position to the right-hand side. Amidst talk of a fallout between the Argentine and the manager, it was a bold decision.

Since this stylistic tweak, Suarez has added an influx of goals and assists to the infectious work-rate and tenacity that have ever-present since his debut for the La Liga giants. He’s center stage now for Barca and as is evident by the manner in which the side toiled in the two aforementioned matches without him, is now a vital facet of astonishing soccer team.

As the man at the point of the attack, Suarez sets the tone. Barcelona may not be the relentless pressing outfit they were under Pep Guardiola when they last won a treble, but given Messi is not as defensively dynamic as he once was and Neymar’s own languid attitude, some industry is required high up the pitch. The No. 9 adds it in spades.

It’s a side of the Uruguayan’s game, garra charrua as they say in the player’s homeland, that’s endeared Suarez to Cules. His willingness to make defensive sacrifices has made him enormously popular in the Barcelona dressing room, as will has propensity for putting goals on a plate for his partners at the sharp end of the pitch.

It’s a selflessness that’s helped make this Barcelona front three so formidable. Naturally, the trio will all take pride in their personal goal tallies, but it’s not the priority; they seem to enjoy setting up each other for easy chances, as was evident when Suarez chose to square to Neymar on two occasions when through himself in the match against Bayern.

Finding that balance between supplementing Barca’s other attacking stars and the introverted incision he showcased at Liverpool was always going to be the biggest challenge for Suarez at the Nou Camp, as relinquishing responsibility didn’t seem to come easy at Anfield. Initially, he may have strayed a little too far in his selfless streak, but now the Uruguayan is beginning to emerge as a go-to man in important games.

The winner in the most recent Clasico, two goals away at Manchester City in the Champions League, another brace against Paris-Saint Germain in the Parc des Princes—these were massive moments in Barcelona’s surge towards treble success.

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Now, Suarez will have his eye on the Bianconeri; a defensively diligent team, but one who’ll be without their best centre-back in Giorgio Chiellini. And if there are any frailties in heart of the Juventus back line, Suarez will exploit them.

His darting movements, relentless dribbling and willingness to stretch the play both laterally and vertically has defenders constantly on edge. They’re qualities that help create space for the mercurial talent of his teammate to operate in as well.

In Berlin, Suarez may not deliver a telling pass or slaloming dribble like Messi, or a surging sprint into the box capped with an astute finish like Neymar. But his traits as a forward will facilitate those instances in the game and can tip what’s likely to be a precarious clash in Barca’s favor. As will his own instinctive, ingenious skills as a footballer.

Perhaps it’s coincidental that the Blaugrana’s own poor performances, Suarez’s absence and those matches had little on them all aligned. But the stark deterioration in performance levels when the striker was withdrawn at half time in the Allianz Arena would suggest not.

Barcelona may have been hindered without the Uruguayan, but his presence doesn’t make them immaculate. His chaotic, unshackled style of centre-forward play does quite the opposite if anything.

But Suarez gives the Catalonians an untamed edge and a dash of altruism; in major finals like Saturday’s, those unheralded traits can be so decisive.

Follow Matt on Twitter @MattJFootball