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Watch him play, and it is obvious Luis Suarez possesses a hunger that's rare even among the driven athletes that populate football's elite.

That is because, he explains with a shy smile, for him hunger wasn’t just an abstract mental concept, but a literal reality as he grew up in Montevideo, the middle son of seven boys raised alone by their mother.

So much has been said about the character of the Liverpool forward in the aftermath of his ban for making racist comments towards Patrice Evra.

Yet little of it takes into account a childhood he cheerfully describes as “difficult”.

Without being insulting, for difficult, we should read poor... South American poor. The type of poverty you can barely imagine. The type that comes on the streets of the sprawling Uruguayan capital, where his family moved in search of work when Suarez was seven years old.

He makes no issue of it, but there were times when the family didn’t know where the next meal was coming from.

There were times too when he played football in bare feet because they couldn’t afford boots.

At the age of 11, he got an invite to the Uruguay FA’s academy - but couldn’t accept because he didn’t have any boots.

If you want hunger, then that’s a motivation - and an insight into the transformation the 25-year-old undergoes from the charming, polite, almost shy character he is off the pitch to the possessed being he becomes on it.

“Yes, it’s true. When I was a kid I had to fight for everything. That’s why I put so much into fighting for everything on the pitch. Exactly,” he admitted in a rare interview this week.

“It was very hard for me as a kid to get through as a footballer in Uruguay. I had to sacrifice a lot of things to get where I am. Now I don’t want to miss any of the opportunities that are open to me. That’s why I play so hard on the pitch.

“I don’t know if that kid is still inside me, not any more, but certainly from time to time I do remember playing without shoes. I had a really hard time growing up, we were a large family and we didn’t have much money at home.”

It is said not as an excuse, but by way of simple explanation of a character he knows is reviled and demonised by opposition supporters who singled him out as a target for abuse long before the Evra controversy elevated his notoriety to an art form.

(Image: Getty)

“It’s not for me to give an opinion about my character, but it pleases me that my team-mates see me as a quiet guy who is nice off the pitch,” he added with another shy smile.

“I think I play football in a different way. I love football and I put 100 per cent into it all the time. I recognise that sometimes this can lead to, uh (he searches for the word), unusual behaviour, but it is because I love the game so much and I am so passionate about it.

“I have worked very hard to get where I am today and the 90 minutes on the pitch are so important to me.

"That is why I fight so hard.”

Unusual is one way of putting it.

His conduct during the whole Evra affair was abrasive, unrepentant, challenging. It was clear he felt victimised.

Even now, he has told fans, who subjected him to venemous jeering at every ground when he was found guilty of racism and accused of diving, to carry on booing.

"It is not as if fans of the other teams are going to start singing in support of an opposition player or try to help them in any way, is it?" he said.

"I am not really that bothered or interested in the reception they give me. They are fanatical about their own teams and about doing the job of supporting their own teams. That's what they do, so you don't expect anything else.

"I can't affect that. The only thing I want is the respect of the fans of Liverpool and the fans of the national team of Uruguay."

Supporters may not be ready to forgive or forget but Suarez is trying hard to put the subject of last season behind him.

As he prepares to take to the stage for Liverpool against Manchester City on Sunday, he takes inspiration from a member of the opposition, Carlos Tevez, who found himself, briefly, an even bigger demon in the football public’s eye last season.

The two are friends, the Argentine Tevez having blazed a trail in England that Suarez admits he followed partly because of the success of his fellow South American forward.

Now, Suarez hopes he can follow another trail - the one towards public redemption - that Tevez started down with his role in the final games of City's title triumph in May.

“We both had difficult times last season, there were problems, yes. Carlos is a mature person and has sorted out those problems. He’s an excellent player and everyone in England is enjoying watching him play at this moment,” said Suarez.

(Image: Alex Livesey)

“Now I would like to do the same, to move on. We are professional footballers. We play football on the pitch. Like any other problem someone has, you put it behind you and move on. That is the only thing we can do.

“I watched Tevez when I was playing in Holland and I could see he was doing really well. That’s was one of the things that really motivated me to come and play in the Premier League.

“I thought that if Tevez can do really well, then I could do too because I have a similar physical stature. I am proud to still be at Liverpool, I’m happy here, I’m happy at the club and I’m happy in the city, and I hope now to move forward with this club.”

That means challenging clubs like City, even with all the wealth at their disposal.

Some people were surprised when Suarez signed a new contract with the Reds, despite the painful absence of Champions League football - an obvious draw for a player of his status in the world game.

Yet he explains he signed because of his belief in the club and in the new manager, Brendan Rodgers.

“There were clubs that wanted to sign me, but my priority was always to stay and sign again with Liverpool, because I believe this club can win the Premier League if we do everything right,” he said simply.

“My decision was easy because the club stuck by me last season. They had trust in me because of the work I do on the football pitch, and what happened in the past is the past - it is over.

“I recognise the season wasn’t very good last time, especially in the league. A team like Liverpool always wants to be in the Champions League where it should be, but I still believe we can make it.

"My dream is to play there for at least one season with Liverpool.”

To do that, Liverpool will require goals from the man who is the pivot of their attack and the most important element in their forward play.

It is an area of weakness for Suarez in an otherwise sublime talent.

In keeping with his refreshing honesty he admits he - and only he - is to blame for his frailty in front of goal, so must do much better.

“The problem isn’t with anyone else - I am the problem," he said. "Missing chances is all down to me.

"I need to take my time more when I do have chances. Sometimes I am rushing at chances too much and I know the problem is mine.

“It is up to me to sort it out and to start scoring goals. That is what we have training for. I scored a lot of goals in Holland, but in Holland I scored a lot of lucky goals.

“If you look back on my goals in Holland you will see that, a lot of times, I didn’t even hit them properly, but they went in.

"If there is one thing that is missing in this country it is that bit of luck that can make a big difference. I am hoping that it will return and then I will score more goals.”

If he does, then he may discover - like Tevez - it somehow makes the road to redemption just a little smoother.