SIGHT FOR SUAR EYES Luis Suarez claims Barcelona treatment made him cry and hurt family which is why Messi publicly leapt to his defence

The Uruguayan striker was told by new manager Ronald Koeman that he was not in his plans for the upcoming season.

Luis Suarez was reduced to tears after being frozen out of the Barcelona squad Credit: Barcelona FC

As a result, the heartbroken 33-year-old was excluded from their pre-season and TRAINING matches, later joining Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid on a free transfer.

But Suarez - who became Barca's third all-time top scorer with 198 goals - and his family were left emotionally hurt by the squad snub.

He said: ​"Those days were very difficult. I cried because of what I was having to go through.

"I didn't take the club's message that they were looking for a solution for me in order to mix things up very well.

"I was hurt most of all by the way they did things, because one has to accept it when a cycle comes to an end.

"Not everyone knows what happened but the worst thing was going to training and being sent to a different group from everyone else because I was not allowed to play in practice matches.

"My wife could see how unhappy I was and she wanted to see me smile again and when the chance came to join Atletico I had no doubts."

Suarez looked to be leaving the Nou Camp with close friend Lionel Messi, who wanted to walk out on Barca for free.

Lionel Messi hit out at the Nou Camp board for the way they treated Suarez, Credit: Instagram / @antonelaroccuzzo

在 Instagram 查看这篇帖子

Ya me venía haciendo la idea pero hoy entré al vestuario y me cayó la ficha de verdad. Que difícil va a ser no seguir compartiendo el día a día con vos, tanto en las canchas como afuera. Los vamos a extrañar muchísimo. Fueron muchos años, muchos mates, comidas, cenas... Muchas cosas que nunca se van a olvidar, todos los días juntos. Va a ser raro verte con otra camiseta y mucho más enfrentarte. Te merecías que te despidan como lo que sos: uno de los jugadores más importantes de la historia del club, consiguiendo cosas importantes tanto en lo grupal como individualmente. Y no que te echen como lo hicieron. Pero la verdad que a esta altura ya no me sorprende nada. Te deseo todo lo mejor en este nuevo desafío. Te quiero mucho, los quiero mucho. Hasta pronto, amigo.

Leo Messi (@leomessi) 分享的帖子 · PDT 2020 年 9月 25 日 上午 1:59

But to avoid dragging the club through the courts, Messi confirmed he would stay, with 12 months left on his contract.

He still hit out at the Nou Camp board for the way they treated Suarez, who would go on to score twice on his Atletico debut.

Suarez said: "I wasn't surprised that Messi supported me publicly because I know him too well.

"He knew the pain I was going through, the feeling that I was being kicked out was what hurt me the most.

"The way they did things was not right and Leo knows how me and my family suffered."