MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sensational Suarez hits four for Ayax

22 year old Uruguayan international Luis Suarez hit FOUR magnificent goals as Ajax of Amsterdam beat Slovan Bratislava by 5-0 in a Europa Cup qualifying game in the Amsterdam Arena on wednesday night. Substitute Mitchell Donald scored the 5th in injury time.

The young Uruguayan who scored 22 goals last season in the Dutch Premier Division, has started this season in similar vein and already has scored 9 times in just four games. Last Sunday he scored twice against arch rivals PSV Eindhoven but could not prevent his team losing by 4 goals to 3. The previous week he hit 3 in a league game against RKC.

Despite rumours of an impending transfer to Barcelona in Spain, Suarez maintained that he is: 'Very happy at Ajax and will honour my contract which runs until 2012'. He

added: 'Life here is good for me, I get well paid and I am enjoying my football'.

The speculation of a move is rife mainly because his Uruguayan wife's family live in Barcelona and a move to the Spanish giants would seem appropriate. Suarez did admit that an offer by Barcelona: 'Would be very tempting'

but was adamant that he has no current plans to leave Holland.

Suarez first goal came after 43 minutes when he took a pass from Siem De Jong and waited for the goalkeeper to commit himself before delightfully curling the ball high into the net. The goal eased the tension for the Ajax supporters, following a nervy start to the game when many passes were over-hit.

In the 65th minutes Suarez intelligently moved wide to the left, losing his marker, and when the ball reached him, he hammered a left foot shot past the helpless Slovakian 'keeper.

The 'hat-trick' goal was typical of the diminutive striker. He received the ball just outside the penalty area and with two shakes of his hips sent two defenders in the wrong direction, before taking two strides and shooting into the net from 20 yards.

His fourth attempt at goal secured his fourth goal. This time the Danish international Dennis Rommedahl broke free on the right and passed the ball inside to Suarez who cooly hit an unstoppable shot into the net.

It could have been 5 on the night, but this time the Uruguayan hit the ball over the cross bar.

Suarez who played for Nacional of Montevideo before moving to FC Groningen in the north of Holland where he spent a year before moving to Ajax, said that his second goal gave him most pleasure because: 'I scored with my left foot and it is the weaker of the two'.

The last time an Ajax player scored 4 times in a European game was in 1987 when John Bosman was on the scoresheet in a 14-0 victory over the part-timers Red Boys of Luxembourg.

In 67 Premier Divison games for Ajax, Suarez has scored 44 times - a remarkable goal-scoring ration. With his home Country poised to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, Suarez will have an opportunity to enhance his reputation even further should he maintain his goal-scoring form in South Africa.

Patrick Watts - MERCO PRESS - Amsterdam.