Luis Suárez has said goodbye to Barcelona in an emotional way. The 33-year-old striker, who is relocating to Atlético Madrid, said goodbye to the club, the staff and his fellow players at a press conference at the Camp Nou on Thursday afternoon. At the start of the press talk, Suárez had to do his best to hold back the tears.

“This is incredibly difficult for me,” said the attacker, quoted by among others Mundo Deportivo. “I leave a lot of friends behind. An emotional person is now leaving Barcelona. I want to thank my family for all the support. They have experienced my good and bad moments up close. I also want to thank the fans for their love, for their appreciation. I will never forget that. And I also want to thank the staff for everything. “

Suárez has been active for Barcelona since mid-2014 and has scored a total of 198 goals and 109 assists in 283 games. He has won several awards with the Spanish superpower, including four league titles and the Champions League in 2015. “Being a Barcelona player has always been a dream of mine. Highlights? The first national title, the Champions League victory, the goals … And the fact that I have played with great players I knew from PlayStation. I am also incredibly happy with the numbers that I have been able to score at this club. I am proud of the last six years. I can look back on with satisfaction my time at Barcelona. “

“It was a crazy month”, Suárez looks back on the transfer woes and the chaos at Barcelona. “A lot of things have been made up in the media, a lot has been leaked to the press. Many stories passed by that made me angry. The club has made changes and the coach (Ronald Koeman, ed.) No longer counted on me. had already expected the bell from Koeman, because I had been warned. You have to accept these kinds of things in football. Strangely enough I got a lot of offers afterwards, but I wanted to go to a club that could compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid in terms of level. I chose Atlético. “

“It is going to be crazy to play against friends and ex-teammates, but we are going to try to make it a great match,” continues Suárez, who will also play against bosom friend Lionel Messi. “When I got here, they all said to be careful with Messi, because we were both strikers and therefore competitors. But everyone knows how my relationship is with Messi. I’m going to be a direct competitor, but in Uruguay and Argentina we play. even against each other. This has no effect on our friendship. “