Ex-coach of Luis Suárez on how to get the best from Sporting striker | OneFootball

Sebastião Macias spoke about Luis Suárez. While serving as assistant to Carlos Queiroz with the Colombian national team, the Portuguese coach was the main person responsible for the new Sporting signing making his debut for the Cafeteros, after discovering him while he was playing for Zaragoza.

“Suárez was at Zaragoza, he was a regular starter, and scored many goals in 2019/2020. I watched him several times and advised Professor Queiroz to call him up. He already had three or four distinguishing characteristics for a striker,” said the coach, who is currently with Estoril’s under-19 team, in statements to the newspaper A Bola.

“First of all, he was very objective in the finishing area and had a tremendous ability to shoot with both feet. He showed the ability to play between the lines as well as to ask for the ball behind the defense and play in depth. Given these qualities, he found it easy to break down opposing defenses,” revealed Sebastião Macias.

Next, the former assistant of the Colombian national team tried to explain the reasons that led Sporting to sign Luis Suárez from Almería and gave Rui Borges a ‘tip’ on how to use him: “A decision to acquire a player’s rights always involves many variables and is not easy to make. But I believe Sporting’s scouting also understood that Luis can play alone up front or with someone alongside him. I hope he scores many goals, as I have always believed in him and I did not do so by chance. It was due to his merits.”

In conclusion, Sebastião Macias highlighted some of what he considers to be the Colombian’s main assets, and one aspect to improve, which can be compared with Viktor Gyokeres: “He is strong at attacking crosses at mid-height. In aerial duels with this type of cross, he is able to finish in positional aerial play. Here we can find a point of convergence with Gyokeres, who also isn’t exactly a machine in aerial play.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.