Barcelona forward Luis Suarez has admitted that he found it “strange” not to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or award.
The 27-year-old was named PFA Players’ Player of the Year after scoring a remarkable 31 goals in 33 games for Liverpool last season, a goal tally which saw him share the European Golden Shoe with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Suarez, who now plays for Barcelona and is back in competitive action following his ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup in Brazil; has been left wondering why he was not included in the 23-man list for the Ballon d’Or.
“Everyone brings it to attention,” he told RAC-1. “As my Barca team-mate Gerard Pique said, they voted me as the best player in the most difficult league in the world, or one of the most difficult.
“I was also the highest goalscorer of all of the European leagues.
“It’s strange that that I’m not on the list, but I prefer to keep quiet before saying things because every time that I speak there could be a problem.”
For now, though, Suarez is solely concentrating on helping Barcelona, who have suffered an ill patch of form lately.
“As time goes on you become more accustomed to your team-mates,” Suarez explained. “I took time training with them.
“At the Bernabeu I felt lost tactically, messy, and not well coordinated. But last week we worked to improve and, against Celta, when the ball does not want to go in, well, it does not want to go in.
“Obviously, though, some good things were done and bad things that we have to correct.”