With football as his number-one focus, Luis was unstoppable. The Nacional coaches were talking about Luis for all the right reasons now, saying: ‘He still has weaknesses, but I’ve never seen anyone with those instincts in the penalty area. He scores from any angle. He’s not the quickest or the most skilful but he’s so clever and he never gets tired.’
‘So what are we waiting for? He dominated the youth leagues, let’s see what he can do against the big boys. He should be training with the first team.’
Just like that, Luis’s dream came true. He was following in his heroes’ footsteps and he couldn’t help but imagine where his career might go next.
But there was nothing easy about taking that step up to the first team. The luck and deadly finishing that had been part of his game for the past few years had deserted him. Luis had already started to prepare himself for the possibility of being dropped down to the reserves. It was hard to prepare for games with all these thoughts running through his head. He just wished that Sofi was there – she always knew the right thing to say.
Luckily, he could rely on the support of his family. ‘The fans are crazy to doubt you,’ Paolo said. ‘One minute they love you, the next they hate you.’
‘I guess that’s part of the deal as a footballer,’ Luis replied. ‘I’m more determined than ever to start taking my chances and scoring goals. They can doubt me as much as they want, that just fires me up.’
‘Well, we’ll be there to cheer you on. Wilson dropped off some tickets for us.’
That afternoon, the fans piled into the Gran Parque Central. The stadium announcer was reading out the teams: ‘Number 9, Luis Suárez.’
‘Booooooooooo!’ The crowd’s opinion was loud and clear. His own fans were turning on him.
Luis took a deep breath. It had been like this for a month now. He would do everything right, get into the perfect position, then fluff his shot. ‘Donkey! Wooden leg!’ the fans screamed. Luis had grown up in Montevideo from the age of seven. He was one of their own. It didn’t seem to matter.
His manager, Martín Lasarte, had backed him in every interview. Now Lasarte was on the touchline, waving for Luis to run over for some final instructions. ‘Listen, I don’t understand why the fans are acting this way, but don’t pay attention to it. You’ve been playing well. Once you score a couple of goals, everything will change. Keep your head up.’
Luis worked harder than ever that afternoon, chasing every ball and dribbling past defenders, even with his own fans jeering. Then, in the second half, he shut them up with a wonder goal. Luis received a pass with his back to goal and swivelled past his defender. He heard teammates calling for a pass, but the ball was sitting up perfectly for a half volley. He trusted his instincts and whipped a shot towards goal. From the moment it left his foot, he knew he had done something special. The ball curved past the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and into the net.
The stadium erupted. Paolo and Maximiliano were jumping up and down with all the other Nacional fans. Luis’s teammates knew what that goal meant to him. They followed him over to the corner flag to celebrate. ‘Finally!’ Luis yelled, kissing the Nacional badge on his shirt. ‘Finally!’
From that day on, there were no more boos. ‘I told you all,’ Lasarte said, grinning at the reporters. ‘That kid is a special talent. Today, you saw him take the next step towards being a huge star. He is going to score many more goals for Nacional. You’ll be sorry that you ever doubted him.’
As Luis had predicted, he just needed that first goal. He scored eleven more over the rest of the 2005/06 season, helping Nacional win the Uruguayan league. ‘A few months ago, I was a nobody. Now I’m a champion,’ he told his teammates as they sprayed champagne in the dressing room. ‘It doesn’t get any better than this!’
Luis was picturing what it would be like to become one of the all-time greats at Nacional – the kind of player that the fans would talk about for years and years. He had improved so much in just one season with the first team, and he had plenty more tricks up his sleeve.
But when he met with his agent, Daniel Fonseca, the following week, he found out that it wasn’t just people in Uruguay who had been keeping an eye on him that season. It became clear that Luis had become a hot property.