Is Luis Suarez on the same level as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?

Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez, a figure known in football for multiple reasons. He has made a name for himself with his antics and his ability to rattle defences and score goals against them. Whether he is known for allegedly racially abusing Patrice Evra or biting Brainslav Ivanovic or serving his ban and coming back with a bang and scoring 19 goals in 12 appearances, no one can deny he is in the form of his life and it is becoming a headache for managers who are trying to figure ways out to deal with the Uruguayan. Every match you see, Luis Suarez always does something incredible like the goal against West Brom or an inspired performance in the 5–0 thrashing of Tottenham, netting 2 goals and providing an assist.

So far he also has created 38 goal scoring chances for his team and has a pass success rate of 76%, not bad for a striker. No doubt he is the best player of the EPL and has a shot accuracy rate of 66%. He has given Liverpool a realistic chance to push for the Premier League title and other competitions like the FA Cup. Teams fear Liverpool like never before due to this lone figure. Seeing his stats we recall of two of the best footballers currently – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. So the questions burning inside everyone’s mind is: Is Suarez on the same level as Messi and Ronaldo?

To answer this question, let us analyse Ronaldo’s and Messi’s stats. Ronaldo has 18 goals in 16 appearances, which is less number of goals in more number of matches. Also, Ronaldo’s chances created for Real Madrid and shooting accuracy is far less than that of Suarez at 21 and 59% respectively. The case of Messi is a bit different where Suarez outscores Messi with 19 goals scored instead of 8 but Messi has a better shooting and passing accuracy, showing just how clinical the Argentine is.

In terms of passing, the story remains the same. Suarez leads the number of assists with 5 up till now, Ronaldo and Messi are both on 4 assists. Also, Luiz Suarez has 38 key passing which is an average of 3.4 key passes per game, surpassing Ronaldo’s 22 key passes and Messi’s 20 key passes. This shows that he not only scores goals but contributes a lot in making them too. However, he is behind on the basis of passes completed as his record of 76% pass completion is less than that of Messi’s 83% and Ronaldo’s 81%. But the fact that Suarez plays in the EPL, a league much faster and physical than La Liga makes us think that the Liverpool superstar is certainly on the level or has surpassed these two.

However, stats alone do not define a footballer and performances on the pitch do matter. Suarez has not been so impressive against the big teams, failing to make an impact on the match against Arsenal and Manchester United and scoring a solitary goal against Everton in the 3–3 Merseyside Derby draw. Messi has net 6 goals in the Champions League, that too against teams like Ajax and Milan which is no small task. The same goes for Ronaldo who has always performed for Real Madrid. He led Real Madrid to the Champions League Round of 16 with 9 goals in the group stage, the highest by any person.

Plus, Ronaldo and Messi both possess a phenomenal set of dribbling skills with freestyles which no defender has been able to deal with. Both of them have won the greatest individual award, the Ballon d’Or (Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year) whereas Suarez has not even reached the top three even once. Both of them have been shocking the world with their amazing football over the years.

However, we have seen this new “Good Boy” Suarez only this season. He has renewed his contract with Liverpool to stay till 2018. If he continues to progress and score at this speed, there will be a time very soon where we will compare the three greatest footballers, Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez. But is he on the same level right now as Ronaldo and Messi? He is very very close, but not there yet.

Here is a quick review for the stats again:

Player	Goals Scored	Assists	Key Passes Per Game	Pass Success	Shots per Game	Number Of Appearances
L Suarez	19	5	3.2	76.2%	6.4	12
L Messi	8	4	1.8	83.7%	4.9	10
C Ronaldo	18	4	1.4	81.2%	7.7	16

NOTE : All Stats were taken from Squwaka and Who Scored and only League stats were considered.