Luis Suárez’ Grêmio debut was marked with a hat-trick. The attacker made a hat-trick on Tuesday night in a won match against São Luiz (4-1). The game was the final of the regional tournament for the Recopa Gaúcha.
Suárez had a starting place and scored three goals in the first half. He opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a nice arch ball over the goalkeeper of São Luiz. The equalizer came from Paulinho Santos, after which Bitello made it 2-1.
After half an hour, Suárez scored his second goal in a one-on-one situation. The 4-1, the last goal of the game, followed in the 38th minute. São Luiz couldn’t get the ball out of the penalty area after a free kick from Grêmio and the goalkeeper was out of position, sending a hard and diagonal shot from Suárez flying into the corner. The Uruguayan had a few more chances for his fourth goal, but hit the post from a difficult angle, for example.
Nevertheless, Grêmio won the Recopa Gaúcha for the fourth time without any problems. The tournament has been played since 2014. It is a match between the winners of the Campeonato Gaúcho (a competition from January to April in the state of Rio Grande do Sul) and the Copa FGF (a regional cup tournament).
How Gremio lured Suárez?
Grêmio was promoted from Série B to Série A last season and is trying to put together a strong selection to survive at the highest level. Suárez became the club’s flagship. The Uruguayan was also in the interest of Mexico’s Cruz Azul, which reportedly offered €2.8 million a year and was linked to clubs from Saudi Arabia and Major League Soccer.
The Brazilians went to great lengths to bring in Suárez. Grêmio came to an agreement with the attacker on Christmas Eve, after which there was a green light for the contract. After some discussions about its content, both parties came to an agreement. “There were certainly some difficult moments,” says sports director Paulo Caleffi with radio station Gaúcha.
Caleffi had one condition to entice Suárez to come to Grêmio. “He is very motivated and we wanted to see that. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense for a club to put so much effort into a player. I am convinced that Suárez will show it on the field. He’s a warrior. Let’s go enjoy him in the stadium,” the director mentioned.
