At 38 years young and mixing it with some of the game’s biggest names on the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ stage, Luis Suarez is proving that he has still got it. Aware of the doubting voices that have emerged, the Inter Miami CF veteran is more than happy to defy his critics by letting his actions on the pitch speak for themselves.
Having racked up over 550 goals in a dazzling career spanning two decades, the man nicknamed El Pistolero is still gunning for more. His effort against SE Palmeiras was his ninth of the current calendar year. Moreover, he has recorded 10 assists in 24 games in 2025, including the deft chest pass that set Tadeo Allende on his way to open the scoring against the side from São Paulo.
In the Concacaf Champions Cup the Salto-born scoring sensation found the net three times: once against Sporting Kansas City and again in both legs of the tie against Jamaican juggernauts Cavalier FC, as well as a further five times in 14 Major League Soccer (MLS) outings since the turn of the year.
Following his goalscoring exploits against the Alviverde, Suarez took to social media to respond to a post published by the official, Spanish-language FIFA Club World Cup™ account on X, noting with dry humour “El Pistolero still has the odd bullet left!”
The side led by the deadly duo of Lionel Messi and Suarez are the only club from the host nation to have progressed beyond the group stage at FIFA’s ground-breaking global extravaganza. With Seattle Sounders FC and Los Angeles FC having bowed out, Inter Miami are primed for a Round of 16 bout against Paris Saint-Germain at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.
The fixture will be particularly poignant for Argentinian icon Messi, who is poised to come up against a former employer for the first time in his career. However, it will also be a significant occasion for Suarez.
The clash between the reigning MLS Supporters’ Shield holders and the UEFA Champions League winners serves up a reunion between the Uruguayan goal-getter and PSG’s Spanish tactician, Luis Enrique, who masterminded Barcelona’s triumph in Europe’s elite club competition back in 2015 – Suarez’s only Champions League crown in a trophy-laden career.
That Barça side featured no fewer than five members of a star-studded cast who now ply their trade for Inter Miami: Suarez himself, Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Javier Mascherano, who calls the shots from the Herons’ dugout.
Luis Enrique named the aforementioned quintet in his starting line-up as the Azulgranas waltzed to a 3-1 win over Juventus FC in the continental showpiece at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium a decade ago. On that night, Suarez gobbled up a loose ball after Gianluigi Buffon could only parry a fierce Messi shot to restore the Spanish side’s lead.
“Luis Enrique and Maestro [Oscar Washington] Tabarez with the Uruguayan national team have been the two most significant coaches in my career in terms of what they taught me and what I learned when working with them,” revealed Suarez moments after the 2-2 stalemate against Palmeiras that secured second spot in Group A.
When quizzed about the current PSG boss, who is sure to be plotting a plan to keep Suarez at bay on Sunday, he said: “He had a massive influence on me. I already had a competitive streak about me, but he managed to intensify it. He taught me to operate in certain areas of the pitch in which I was asked to perform a role I wasn’t used to, given that I didn’t see much of the ball and had to initiate the press. On a personal level, I have tremendous respect and admiration for what he gets out of his players.”
Suarez played under Luis Enrique for the three seasons between the 2014/15 and 2016/17 campaigns. Flanked by none other than Messi and Neymar, the feisty frontman occupied the central berth in a defence-terrorising trident nicknamed the MSN. That formidable Blaugrana crop also captured glory on the global stage, reigning supreme at the 2015 FIFA Intercontinental Cup™, with El Pistolero firing home twice as the Catalan giants ran out 3-0 winners over CA River Plate on Japanese soil.
Ten years on from that trophy triumph, Suarez is still doing what he does best. After having been reunited with his partner in crime – Messi – at Inter Miami, he is raring to continue firing holes in opposition defences in his side’s quest to garner global glory.
He added: “We’re well aware of just how tough it’ll be against the [UEFA] Champions League winners. It’ll be a real challenge against a side who are possibly favourites to win the whole thing given the calibre of players they have, but we’ve got our own weapons. We’ll be looking to address the mistakes we made, which could prove to be very costly against a side like PSG. We’ll need to try to make the most of any chances that come our way.”
Inter Miami already pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament by downing Porto in the group stages and progressing at their European counterparts’ expense. Reflecting on Inter Miami’s campaign so far, Suarez said: “The most important thing is that we’ve held our own. We’ve given a good account of ourselves, which reflects well on MLS. We now have to prepare for what lies ahead.”
Although some may have dared to doubt him, El Pistolero still has plenty more bullets left and will be gunning to shoot down the PSG backline in Sunday’s do-or-die showdown.
