MADRID: Barcelona's decision to buy Luis Suarez from Liverpool following his ban for biting an opponent at the 2014 World Cup raised a few eyebrows but it increasingly appears their faith in the Uruguay forward was justified.
After setting the Premier League alight last season, Suarez had a slow start following his 81 million-euro ($90.7 million) switch to Spain, taking longer than expected to hit scoring form since the ban expired at the end of October.
While he struggled to find the net himself in his first few months back, he earned praise from Barca coach Luis Enrique for his work rate and link-up play and, perhaps more importantly, managed to avoid any repeat of the controversy that has dogged his career.
As the season approaches a crucial stage, Suarez is starting to motor and struck again in La Liga on Saturday following Tuesday's brace against Manchester City in the Champions League.
The 28-year-old had a hand in all three of Barca's goals in Saturday's 3-1 success at Granada.
It was his cross that led to Ivan Rakitic's opening goal, he scored the second with a neat finish and unselfishly set up Lionel Messi to net Barca's third when he could easily have put the ball away himself.
Those kind of all-round performances are exactly why Barca dug deep into their pockets and if Suarez can reproduce them on a regular basis the Catalan giants will have a much better chance of returning to winning ways after failing to collect major silverware last term.
"Since he started to play again, we have seen a Suarez at a very high level," Luis Enrique told a news conference after the Granada game.
"Maybe he is more spectacular now or you are focusing more on him but he is still very special and doing a lot of hard work for the team," added the former Barca and Spain midfielder.
Barca are still in with a chance of repeating their historic treble of Spanish league and Cup and Champions League under Pep Guardiola in 2009.
Saturday's success in La Liga closed the gap to Real Madrid to one point ahead of the leaders' game at home to Villarreal on Sunday.
Barca are also on the verge of a place in the King's Cup final and take a 3-1 lead to Villarreal for Wednesday's semi-final, second leg.
They will be confident of seeing off City when they defend a 2-1 lead in their last 16, second leg at the Nou Camp on March 18 before they host Real in La Liga four days later.
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