Luis Suarez has revealed captaining Liverpool was one of the proudest moment of his career as he prepares for his Anfield return.
Barcelona forward Suarez is back on Merseyside for the first time in a competitive fixture for the Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old netted the opener in the Catalans' 3-0 win at Camp Nou last week, and is aiming for a second Champions League triumph with the club having scored in the 3-1 win over Juventus in the 2015 final.
However, Suarez believes that is on a par with being handed the armband while at Liverpool for the trip to Tottenham Hotspur in December 2013, with the Uruguayan responding by scoring two goals in a 5-0 win.
"Being at Liverpool helped me in some many ways, it made me more professional, it helped me mature,” said the Uruguayan.
“Having players here with great experience allowed me to be better even more. Being captain of Liverpool was one of the proudest moments of my career. I won't forget it.
"Obviously is it special having enjoyed a number of good years here. I will always be thankful to Liverpool because of the heritage they have. It will be very special to come back.
“I have lovely memories of my time here and my career at Liverpool.
"The reason I am playing at Barcelona, at the elite level, is because of Liverpool."
Barcelona boss arrives at Anfield and insists 'We've learned our lesson' from Roma
Suarez went on to skipper Liverpool a further three times before moving to Barcelona for £70million in the summer of 2014, having scored 82 goals in 133 appearances.
Barcelona are strong favourites to finish the job at Anfield, but Suarez is mindful of how the Catalans were eliminated from the competition last season when letting slip a three-goal advantage in the quarter-final against Roma.
“We know how difficult it is to get there we also know we are facing a difficult team,” he said.
“We are conscious of the fact we also have our own armoury and we can get through to the semi-final.
“Despite us getting a good result in the first leg, we have been on the receiving end of tough blows especially last year. We have that in our mind when we are coming into this game, what happened last year.”
Liverpool are without a host of players including Mohamed Salah , Roberto Firmino , Naby Keita and Adam Lallana , while Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sat out training on Monday.
And Suarez added: “Obviously for them they are difficult losses but for us the way we are going to dispute the game doesn't change.
“Salah is a very important player, has been in the top three in the world the last couple of years. It's a big miss for them, but they have Shaqiri , Sturridge , Origi who are quality players and we have to be aware and careful.
“From the first second they are going to come out and put us under pressure with all the enthusiasm of the fans in their home. We have to not give away silly fouls as they have tall players. We can't allow them to get into their stride.
“(James) Milner said (before the first game) that perhaps we're not used to playing teams like Liverpool, but maybe they aren't used to playing teams like us who are good at managing the ball.”
