Luis Suárez
- Dag Jenkins
- Apr 11
- 2 min read
Luis Suárez Miramontes known as Luisito was born in La Coruña on May 2, 1935.
He played his first footballing years with local club Deportivo La Coruña and joined the first team squad in 1953. He played 17 league games and scored 3 goals. The Herculinos finished 7th in the top flight.
In 1954 he moved to Barcelona where he stayed seven seasons. He played 176 games and scored 80 goals. In Barcelona he won 2 league titles, 2 Spanish Cups and 2 Fairs Cups. His managers included Francesc Miró-Sans, Franz Platko, Domėnec Balmanya and Helenio Herrera. He played alongside greats such as Antoni Ramallets, Joan Segarra, Jose Seguer, Sigfrid Gràcia, László Kubala, Justo Tejada, Eduardo Machón, Ramón Villaverde to name a few.
In 1961 Suarez joined Inter where he was reunited with manager Helenio Herrera. Suarez stayed nine seasons with the Nerazzurri. He played 355 games and scored 55 goals. Inter won the Scudetto three times, the European Cup twice and the Intercontinental Cup twice. His managers were Herrera for seven seasons, former Lazio Alfredo Foni for one and Heriberto Herrera in the last. Suarez played alongside Inter greats such as Giacinto Facchetti, Aristide Guarneri, Armando Picchi, Sandro Mazzola, Tarcisio Burgnich, Mario Corso, Jair, Giuliano Sarti, Angelo Domenghini and Roberto Boninsegna amongst others.
In 1970 Suarez joined Sampdoria and stayed three seasons. The Blucerchiati finished 12th, 8th and 11th. Suarez played 73 games with 13 goals. His managers were former Lazio Fulvio Bernardini in the first season and Heriberto Herrera in the following two.
He then retired at 38.
He won 32 caps for Spain and scored 14 goals. He won the European Championship in 1964. He also took part in two World Cups, 1962 and 1966.
After retiring he became a coach. He started at Inter in 1974-75 and the Nerazzurri finished 9th. His career then took him to Cagliari (Aug-Nov 1975, Serie A, sacked), SPAL (Feb-Jun 1977, Serie B, 18th and relegated), Como (1977-78, B, 19th and relegated), Deportivo La Coruña (1978-79, SD, 15th), Inter (Jan-May 1992, 8th), Albacete (Sept 1994, PD, resigned) and finally Inter again (Sept-Oct 1995, fill in between Ottavio Bianchi and Roy Hodgson). It is fair to say his coaching career was not nearly as successful as his playing one.
Suarez started his career as an attacking midfielder but then played further back more as a playmaker. He then scored less but still got his share of goals. He was known as "The Architect" for the precision of his passing and shooting. In 1960 he was the first Spanish player to win the prestigious "Ballon d'or.
Suarez died in Milan on July 9, 2023.
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