At Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium on Wednesday, Gremio defeated Fluminense 3-2 thanks to two goals from Luis Suarez in his final game with the Brazilian team.
The 36-year-old legend of Uruguayan football, who has been linked to a move to Inter Miami to play alongside close friend Lionel Messi, scored the first goal in the 43rd minute and added a second in the 64th minute with a cheeky panenka from the penalty spot.
As the season came to an end on Wednesday, the win guaranteed Gremio a second-place finish in the Brazilian championship, two points behind winners Palmeiras.
It marked a fitting finale to what has been a dazzling season in Brazilian football for Suarez, who cut short his two-year deal with Gremio after one season saying the calendar was too much for his aging body.
Leading Gremio as captain, Suarez played in 54 of the club’s 64 matches in 2023, scoring a total of 29 goals.
He ended the year as the second-highest goal scorer in the Brazilian league, with 17, inspiring down-on-its-luck Gremio to an unexpectedly solid season.
Suarez has declined to comment on rumors linking him to a move to join former Barcelona team-mate Messi in Miami, saying he wants to focus first and foremost on his family and his health.
“I love this job, but it’s hard waking up in pain every morning,” he said last weekend. “I’m hard-headed and I want to keep playing, but I don’t know what comes next.”
Those comments came after he scored the lone goal in Gremio’s win over Vasco in his final home match, earning an emotional standing ovation from the sold-out crowd.
Following his heartbreaking loss from the 2022 World Cup group stage with Uruguay and his return to his boyhood club, Nacional, last year, his time at Gremio may have been a meek farewell tour.
Rather, in the team’s first season back in the top division following a grueling relegation, Suarez excelled, leading them to the state winners’ cup and the Rio Grande do Sul state championship—the latter of which came via a hat trick from Suarez.
“Suarezmania” quickly took hold in Porto Alegre: the striker received a medal from the state government and was made an honorary citizen.
Meanwhile, the number of people attending Gremio’s stadium increased, and the team saw record sales of jerseys and other merchandise.
