For years the front three at the Nou Camp has been built around the Argentine. Natural centre-forwards have come and gone, unable to make the ‘number nine’ spot their own. For manager after manager, Messi’s ‘false nine’ was better than a real one.
David Villa, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o all arrived strikers but left wingers. Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed in the Catalan capital because he was unable to play out wide.
While Henry was beyond the peak years of his career, Villa and Eto’o were at something approaching their best at Barcelona, yet neither was deemed worthy of the main gig at one of the biggest clubs on the planet.
Luis Suarez went to Spain with every chance of enduring a similar fate; he is a quick striker who drifts wide anyway and would not have been totally out of his depth on the flank.
Then, while he served a suspension for biting Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup, Barcelona more than coped, winning seven games out of eight in the league, drawing once and losing none, so uprooting Messi made little sense.
When Suarez finally returned he played on the right of a three-pronged attack, but Barcelona lost his first two games and it was soon clear that something needed changing to accommodate their record signing.
There was no panic that they had wasted their money on him. Luis Enrique was brave enough to risk upsetting Barca’s prized asset and their fans by shifting Messi out wide, and Suarez has been so exceptional through the middle in the number nine slot his shirt prescribes that Barcelona have revamped the way they play.
The reason it works is that those two, also flanked by the irrepressible Neymar, are so flexible and fluid in their shape that each is constantly finding pockets of space all over the pitch. At the same time, however, Suarez remains the centre-forward, most often found on the shoulder of the last defender. He was caught offside 59 times this season, nine more than any other player in La Liga.
His goal-scoring has gone into another stratosphere. With 40 goals (in just 35 appearances) he was the top scorer in Europe’s big five leagues. All on his own he scored more goals than 26 of the 98 teams in those leagues managed overall. He ended the season with 14 goals in five games that Barcelona had to win to secure the title.
He shoots an awful lot, attempting an average of around four shots per game, the ninth most in Europe, and hits the target with slightly more than half – 56 per cent to be precise – meaning there are quite a few efforts that go to waste.
However, when he does hit the target he is rarely stopped, with 57 per cent of his shots on target beating the keeper. In comparison, Karim Benzema scores 47 per cent of his shots on target, Neymar 39 per cent, Ronaldo 36 per cent and Messi 35 per cent. There is no better finisher in Spain – or on the planet for that matter – at this moment in time.
And yet the incredible thing about Suarez is how far that is from the extent of his talents. He has vision and passing to match his movement and shooting. Of every player in the top tiers of Spanish, French, German, English and Italian football, only Messi, Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria can match his 16 assists for the 2015/16 campaign. Only the latter two did better, and between them they scored 24 goals fewer than Suarez. Both of his tallies represent career-highs.
Of course, much of his success owes to the team he has around him. Any half decent striker would score goals with Messi and Neymar laying on chances from the wings; anyone who can pass a ball could set up a Messi goal, too.
But it is the fact that Suarez is no second fiddle to a player many believe is the greatest footballer ever to have lived that makes him so special. He is the first number nine to remain a number nine at the Nou Camp and Messi even seems to enjoy his company; something that seemed unthinkable when Ibrahimovic was driven out of the club in 2011.
Suarez will lead the line once again as Barcelona aim to complete a domestic double for the season by adding the Copa del Rey final to their trophy cabinet on Sunday night against Sevilla. Watching eyes should be concentrated on Messi and where he can do the damage, but the reality of the situation these days is that Barcelona have another man at the heart of their plans.