Luis Suarez will be at the centre of headlines over the next few days after he appeared to bite Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in Uruguay’s 1-0 victory at Estádio das Dunas in Natal.
Suarez’s incident with Chiellini occurred in the 80th minute with the game at 0-0 and Uruguay heading out of the tournament.
A minute later Diego Godin scored Uruguay’s winner, which subjects the Italians, along with England, who drew with Costa Rica, to elimination from group D.
Here is the TV image of the alleged bite mark left by Luis Suarez. pic.twitter.com/8VNjMmArie
— Ben Smith (@BenSmithBBC) June 24, 2014
The incident evokes memories of Suarez’s bite of Chelsea‘s Branislav Ivanovic during a Premier League clash at Anfield in April 2013, for which he received a 10-game ban from the Football Association.
The Guardian‘s live text commentary of the match reported it as:
What has Suarez done now?! Chiellini blocked the striker’s run into the box as they awaited a cross and Suarez thrust his head towards the Italian’s shoulder. Chiellini replied by flailing an elbow towards Suarez and then both went down, with Chilellini gesturing to his shoulder and trying to convince the ref that Suarez bit him!
The Telegraph reported the incident retrospectively as:
In a heated second half which had seen Italy’s Claudio Marchisio sent off for a high tackle, the Liverpool striker was seen to move his head towards Chiellini and seemed to press his mouth into the defender’s shoulder.
After a sensational display to sink England in Uruguay’s 2-1 victory last Thursday, Suarez appeared to have earned some redemption, but this will throw up questions and unwanted attention again.
As Uruguay were jubilant in their post-match celebrations, Suarez cast a forlorn figure as he walked off the pitch, perhaps fully aware that is World Cup may be over.
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