The Colombian scored his first hat-trick, netted his first headed goal, and is starting to have a record very similar to what the Swede showed at the same time last season.
Sporting will finish 2025 with the best attack in the league, with a total of 46 goals in 16 games, 13 more than rivals Benfica and FC Porto [who still play this Sunday against AVS], with 14 goals scored in December alone. These numbers make one forget the absence of Viktor Gyökeres, and there’s an obvious explanation for this: Luis Suárez is fulfilling his role with numbers increasingly closer to those the Swede presented last season, as demonstrated by data from SofaScore .
With his hat-trick against Rio Ave (4-0) on Saturday night, the Colombian striker reached 14 goals in the league, equaling Vangelis Pavlidis at the top of the goalscoring charts . The striker also added another assist, his third in the league, which allowed him to increase his direct goal involvement to 17 (14 goals and 3 assists), numbers very similar to those recorded by Viktor Gyökeres in the same period last season, that is, from the start of last season until the end of December 2024.
A year ago, the Swedish forward, in yet another devastating start to the season, reached December with 18 goals scored and one assist, that is, he only had two more direct goal involvements than the Colombian has had this season, although in one less game played.
It was Luis Suárez’s first hat-trick in a Sporting shirt after already scoring twice in matches against Arouca (6-0), Estrela da Amadora (4-0) and AVS (6-0), but it was also the striker’s first headed goal, a detail that also distinguishes him from Gyökeres.
The Swedish forward, in the same period last season, scored 17 goals with his right foot and one more with his left foot, all inside the penalty area. The Colombian is more versatile, since, in addition to already having scored a goal from outside the area, he scored 8 with his right foot, 5 with his left foot and, now, also scored one with his head, a detail that, according to himself, he has been working on .
Sporting will finish 2025 with the best attack in the league, with a total of 46 goals in 16 games, 13 more than rivals Benfica and FC Porto [who still play this Sunday against AVS], with 14 goals scored in December alone. These numbers make one forget the absence of Viktor Gyökeres, and there’s an obvious explanation for this: Luis Suárez is fulfilling his role with numbers increasingly closer to those the Swede presented last season, as demonstrated by data from SofaScore .
With his hat-trick against Rio Ave (4-0) on Saturday night, the Colombian striker reached 14 goals in the league, equaling Vangelis Pavlidis at the top of the goalscoring charts . The striker also added another assist, his third in the league, which allowed him to increase his direct goal involvement to 17 (14 goals and 3 assists), numbers very similar to those recorded by Viktor Gyökeres in the same period last season, that is, from the start of last season until the end of December 2024.
A year ago, the Swedish forward, in yet another devastating start to the season, reached December with 18 goals scored and one assist, that is, he only had two more direct goal involvements than the Colombian has had this season, although in one less game played.
It was Luis Suárez’s first hat-trick in a Sporting shirt after already scoring twice in matches against Arouca (6-0), Estrela da Amadora (4-0) and AVS (6-0), but it was also the striker’s first headed goal, a detail that also distinguishes him from Gyökeres.
The Swedish forward, in the same period last season, scored 17 goals with his right foot and one more with his left foot, all inside the penalty area. The Colombian is more versatile, since, in addition to already having scored a goal from outside the area, he scored 8 with his right foot, 5 with his left foot and, now, also scored one with his head, a detail that, according to himself, he has been working on .
Suárez shoots more, but Gyökeres was more effective
The Colombian has a slightly higher average of shots per game than Viktor Gyökeres had at the same time last season, with 4.69 shots per game, two tenths more than the Swede, but the current Arsenal striker needed less time to get to the goal and also has a higher conversion rate of clear chances than the current Lions’ top scorer.
Viktor Gÿokeres was also stronger in individual duels, averaging 6.33 duels won per game, more than the Colombian’s 4.50, and was more involved in the team game, averaging two key passes per game compared to Luis Suárez’s 1.69.
Two very different forwards, but with results that are becoming increasingly identical.