I am still stunned after reading Luis Suarez’s statement to FIFA that he never really bite the Italian defender, that instead he simply lost his balance and fell on to the Italian player with his teeth.
Suarez’s statement to the FIFA disciplinary committee has been released and we can read Suarez’s side of the story. According to the Liverpool striker the incident was an accident:
“In no way it happened how you have described, as a bite or intent to bite,” the forward wrote in Spanish, in a letter dated 25 June and released on Saturday.
“After the impact … I lost my balance, making my body unstable and falling on top of my opponent,” he said in his submission to the panel, which met on Wednesday, a day after Uruguay had beaten Italy 1-0 in a decisive group-stage match. “At that moment I hit my face against the player, leaving a small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth”.
FIFA obviously did not buy this story and dismissed Suárez’s argument after studying the incident from 34 camera angles. The bite was
“deliberate, intentional and without provocation”, the ruling read. “He bit the player with the intention of wounding him or at least of destabilising him.”
You have to wonder who was advising Suarez here? Was it just the Uruguayan Football Association and his lawyer Alejandro Balbi? Or was Liverpool or Suarez’s agent Pere Guardiola involved? Because whoever it was they gave the striker bad advice as FIFA said that one of the reasons for the unprecedented punishment was that Suarez showed no repentance for the incident.
“At no time did the player show any kind of remorse or admit to any violation of Fifa rules and therefore showed no awareness of having committed any infraction,” the Fifa document read. The document showed a proposal for a six-game ban was considered but rejected as insufficient. “The minimum punishment was not sufficient to have the necessary dissuasive effect. Previous bans did not have an effect.”
It is clear from bis statements and behavior that Suarez feels that he has done nothing wrong which has to worry Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool. Suárez, who is back in Uruguay, where he met the country’s president and waved to fans from his balcony, has received plenty of backing from within Latin America and tweeted on Saturday to acknowledge the support:
“Hi all, I write this post to give thanks to the outpouring of support and love I am receiving. Both myself and my family really appreciate it. Thank you very much for being by my side and I want to support all my colleagues selected for the match against Colombia.”
If the same people whispering in his ear that he did nothing wrong are the same ones telling him that this is a English and Italian media event then there is no way that he will be back in a Liverpool shirt next season.
