Luis Suarez admits there will be not time for old friendships when he takes on Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final.
The former Liverpool star, now of Barcelona, takes on his old team-mates in his first competitive clash with the Reds since leaving them for Spain in 2014.
The second leg will be at Anfield and although Suarez spoke at great length about his love for the club, the 32-year-old warned his former team-mates there will be no time for a happy reunion.
‘I’m so grateful, but I’m there to play for Barcelona, knowing what our targets are. Once we’re playing there’ll be no friendship, no mates, none of those lovely memories. That’s the way I am as a player, everyone knows,’ he told the Guardian.
‘My kids never go to Champions League games but they want to go to this one.
‘I was talking to Sofi about Anfield and they said: ‘We’re going too.’ We’ll all go, except maybe Lauti, six months yesterday.
‘Benja was very small but he was born in Liverpool and knows it’s his first stadium; he’s seen photos. Part of Delfi’s childhood is there: when she first started to get excited by football, it was there.
‘She remembers what it was like, singing You’ll Never Walk Alone, so imagine what this means for her.
‘It’s going to be a strange feeling but lovely, too. I saw Carra [Jamie Carragher] at Old Trafford and he was excited.
‘Jordan [Henderson] is still there; some friends of his came for the clasico. It’ll be nice to see the staff, like Ray [Haughton], who used to handle everything.
‘And I’ve been getting messages from the lady in the canteen [at Melwood]; she wants to see the kids: she’d always look after Delfi, taking her into the kitchen with her. It’ll be nice to go back.’
Jordan Henderson is the most prominent of the few players still left at Liverpool that Suarez played alongside. Jurgen Klopp took over the year after Suarez’s exit and has transformed the Reds into title challengers and serious competitors in Europe.
It is the second season in a row Liverpool have reached the Champions League semi-final, but Barcelona are the favourites to progress to the final.
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