With Uruguay's Luis Suarez the centre of attention for today's media, we're going to dedicate a few lines to commenting on his namesake from the 50's and 60's, don Luis Suarez Miramontes. The Galician was a left winger of outstanding ability, a link up player who carried the ball with his head up, with the kind of elegance only possessed by football's chosen ones. He was an Iniesta in wide areas and a ruthless finisher when he arrived in the box. His slalom-like runs with the ball were as surprising as they were effective, capable of overcoming rival defences with devastating efficiency. This footballer, who seemed to play as if it was a friendly kickabout, was signed by FC Barcelona in 1954, at just 19 years old, having showed his talent at Deportivo de la Coruña, who were managed by another football virtuoso, don Carlos Iturraspe. The fans in Barcelona's Les Corts stadium soon saw him as the heir to the great Ladislao Kubala (with whom they never fell out, however much the stories say so). For seven seasons, Luisito showed his remarkable ability and was the hero as they won two Copas de Ferias (1958 and 1960), two league titles (1959 and 1960) and two Copa del Generalísimo titles (1957 and 1959). His silky right foot and superb football brain won him the 1960 Balon d'Or, making him the only Spanish player to do so, even to this day. He was the man around whom FC Barcelona were to be built in the 60's, who appeared destined to lead the azulgrana to their first European cup. Despite his unquestionable quality, his seemingly cold style led to some members of the stand pointing the finger at him when things were going badly. It is a common situation in football: fans are suspicious of talented players, but passionately applaud the player who throws himself and fails spectacularly attempting to reach unreachable balls. The stand was divided into supporters and detractors of the Galician genius, a scenario that has happened in football since time immemorial. However, his exit from the club had little to do with this debate.

This is very interesting by the way!

Fantastic piece by Ángel as always and great work by Mark on translation.

Honestly I don't know much about FCB's history, but from what I have read so far, it's always been the same story. Strong organized rivals, inept people making ridiculous decisions and sporting project being jeopardized because somebody in administrative power messed up everything at some point and needs to get out of it.

Thank you barcachief and Aagat. As Aagat said, Barça problems mostly come from the boards.

Nice one.

I'd just like to add that his position changed somewhat after he went to Inter. It is often said that he was the deep-lying playmaker of La Grande Inter but from what I've seen he seemed to be more of a box-to-box kind of midfielder. He played far more vertical than, for example, Andrea Pirlo.