Luis Suarez reunites with Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday and for another 90 minutes, a fans’ favourite and cherished former club will have to be enemies again.

The last time Suarez met Liverpool in Spain was also the first time since he left the club five years earlier in 2014 and it was the Uruguayan who set the tone.

He slid in studs up, not for a tackle but a finish, and without a moment’s hesitation celebrated, circling around the back of Liverpool’s goal, his arms outstretched, grinning.

He had scored 82 goals in 133 games for them, won a cup with them, been defended through racism and biting scandals by them, and earned their adoration as one of their greatest ever players.

But there at Camp Nou, in the crackle of a Champions League last-16 tie, there was no sign of restraint, let alone remorse. Suarez had given Barcelona the lead against Liverpool and nobody could say he was not relishing every second of it.

In the build-up to the second leg at Anfield, he switched back.

He spoke of his close relationship with Liverpool’s staff and how his children learned the excitement of football in the city.