BARCELONA- Barcelona forward Luis Suarez is confident his scoring form will return and he can put a slow start to his debut season in Spain behind him.
Suarez needed eight La Liga games to open his Barca account with a goal against Cordoba last weekend and has two in three Champions League appearances, a meagre return for the player who was Premier League top scorer with 31 goals in his final campaign with Liverpool.
The Uruguay international plays in a three-man attack at Barca with Lionel Messi and Neymar and although he has not been as prolific as he or coach Luis Enrique would like he has been contributing with assists and has made four in La Liga and one in Europe’s elite club competition.
“I am obviously a striker who likes to score a lot of goals and have done that in every team I have been with,” Suarez said on Barca’s website.
“I’m not scoring much at the moment but I’m sure that with help from my teammates the goals will come,” added the 27-year-old, who made his return from a four-month ban for biting an opponent at the end of October.
“But as long as the team is winning important games as it is then I’ll be happy whether I score or not.
“A forward always has to help the team, either with assists or goals.
“Sometimes making good assists or passes makes you feel better than scoring easy goals.”
Barca’s first game after the two-week winter break is a La Liga match at Real Sociedad on 4 January before they host Elche in a King’s Cup last-16 first-leg game four days later.
Barca are also through to the Champions League last 16 where they will play Manchester City over two legs in February and March.
“We didn’t want to meet them, but they didn’t want to meet us either,” Suarez said.
“We know that we are going to have to beat some strong teams if we want to win the Champions League.
“Beating City is a good target for us and a good chance to show people why Barcelona are here.”
Barca are second in La Liga after 16 matches, a point behind Real Madrid who have a game in hand.
| Full LaLiga 3 January fixtures |
| Atlético de Madrid | v | Levante | Vicente Calderón | 17:00 | |
| Sevilla | v | Celta de Vigo | Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán | 19:00 | |
| Elche | v | Villarreal | Martínez Valero | 21:00 | |
| Deportivo de La Coruña | v | Athletic Club | Municipal de Riazor | 23:00 | |
| Málaga | v | Almería | La Rosaleda | 23:00 |
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Real Madrid | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 55 | 13 | 42 | 39 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 41 | 7 | 34 | 38 |
| 3 | Atlético de Madrid | 16 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 31 | 14 | 17 | 35 |
| 4 | Valencia CF | 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 29 | 13 | 16 | 31 |
| 5 | Villarreal | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 14 | 13 | 30 |
| 6 | Sevilla | 15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 25 | 17 | 8 | 30 |
| 7 | Málaga | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 30 |
| 8 | Celta de Vigo | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 18 | -1 | 20 |
| 9 | Eibar | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 19 | 22 | -3 | 20 |
| 10 | Espanyol | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 24 | -4 | 20 |
| 11 | Athletic Club | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 19 |
| 12 | Getafe | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 20 | -8 | 17 |
| 13 | Rayo Vallecano | 16 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 31 | -14 | 17 |
| 14 | Real Sociedad | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 22 | -5 | 15 |
| 15 | Levante | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 30 | -18 | 15 |
| 16 | Almería | 16 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 24 | -11 | 13 |
| 17 | Deportivo de La Coruña | 16 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 27 | -14 | 13 |
| 18 | Granada CF | 16 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 26 | -16 | 13 |
| 19 | Córdoba | 16 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 27 | -16 | 11 |
| 20 | Elche | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 13 | 32 | -19 | 10 |
