In the first one-half of Uruguay ’ s final examination group game against Italy at the 2014 World Cup, Luis Suárez launched a late, awkward challenge on Andrea Pirlo, upending the playmaker with the nuance of a man taking down a tree with a dull ax. As Pirlo tumbled, a thrash forearm struck Suárez around the ear. Suárez, assuming the character of the wrong man, held his pass, stared at Pirlo, looking detriment and shocked – shocked ! – that anyone could do such a thing.
Around 40 minutes late, the score placid 0-0, Suárez did similar. But this time the catalyst was something more strange. Add Giorgio Chiellini ’ s name to the tilt with Otman Bakkal and Branislav Ivanovic : for the third clock in his career, Suárez had bitten an opponent during a match. Before that tournament he was on a PR political campaign. This was a new Luis Suárez. not the one who racially abuse Patrice Evra, or bite Ivanovic and Bakkal, or punched Dominic Adiyiah ’ s header off the line against Ghana. “ I want to change the bad son visualize that has stuck for a bite because I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate think I am at all how I have been portrayed, ” Suárez told Sports Illustrated.

Warming to the subject, he besides said : “ obviously, it ’ s not the most attractive trope that I can have for myself. But that ’ s not what I want to be remembered for. I want to do things right. I in truth, in truth do. ” Pre-tournament stifle operation think of he wasn ’ metric ton fit adequate to play in Uruguay ’ randomness undoer, a defeat by Costa Rica, but in their second game he scored doubly against England to knock them out. Uruguay had to beat Italy to go through but the game was stodgy, both teams toiling in the Natal heat : Suárez looked like a world playing with weights on his leg. On 66 minutes, the ball broke to him, through on goal, but Gigi Buffon dived to save his jab shoot. According to Suárez, this was the sow of what followed. He explained in his autobiography that in both former incidents, frustration caused his dental outbursts. He bit Bakkal while playing for Ajax when “ we were on a bad run that would lead to our director Martin Jol getting the sack ”, while the Ivanovic incident came after “ I gave away a unintelligent penalty ”. And so it was again. “ If I had scored that finish, ” he wrote, “ then what followed would never have happened. I would not have done anything. Nothing. ” So it was all Buffon ’ randomness mistake, very .Luis Suárez reacts after the clash with Giorgio Chiellini. Luis Suárez reacts after the clang with Giorgio Chiellini. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters On 79 minutes, Chiellini half headed away the ball and, as it bobbled out to the left, Suárez steamed in. The two jostled, then fell to the floor. cipher nearby seemed to react. Matteo Di Sciglio, five yards away, protested vaguely only after seeing how shock and bemused his team-mate was. You can ’ triiodothyronine blame him. Referee Marco Rodríguez – serendipitously nicknamed Chiquidrácula – gave a free-kick to Italy. Since he didn ’ t evening reserve Suárez, what misdemeanor he thought he saw is unclear. A livid Chiellini chased Rodríguez, pulling aside his shirt to show the dentition marks. In a misguided act, Gaston Ramírez attempted to cover the shoulder as if that would make it go away. Suárez sat on the floor holding his tooth. In his previous bite episodes he ’ vitamin d targeted fleshier areas. Chiellini, a man who looks as if he was chiselled rather than born, would have been altogether hard. In the stands, it was unclear what had happened. Some thought it was a mere headbutt but within a match of minutes realization dawned. Journalists looked at each other in unbelief : ohio my god, he ’ s done it again.

even those with access to replays weren ’ thyroxine convinced, including Jan Åge Fjørtoft, now a television receiver diarist. As proof of his agnosticism, he bit his hand then compared the marks, tweeting the results. chitter can be nasty but when a former Swindon striker chews partially of his body and posts the picture to indicate a football player hasn ’ thymine bite another, you remember why you log on. Chiellini, obviously, was more certain. “ It was farcical not to send Suárez off, ” he said. “ Suárez is a pilfer and he gets away with it because Fifa want their stars to play in the World Cup. I ’ vitamin d love to see if they have the courage to use television evidence. The referee saw the pungency mark, excessively, but he did nothing. ” As for Suárez, butter refused to melt. “ These are precisely things that happen out on the pitch that you shouldn ’ t make such a bad deal out of, ” he shrugged. Suárez was so abstruse in defense he even pleaded innocence to his wife. When Diego Godín scored the winner, he didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate lionize with his common gusto. “ I was already thinking about the aftermath, ” he said recently .A fan getting their photo taken pretending to be bitten by Suárez at Copacabana beach during the tournament. A sports fan getting their photograph taken make to be bitten by Suárez at Copacabana beach during the tournament. Full drift The consequence began cursorily : that night, brazilian television receiver played Suárez ’ s bite trifecta on a loop. Two days late, despite sticking to his story ( “ I lost my counterweight … hit my font against [ Chiellini ], leaving a small bruise on my impudence and a impregnable trouble in my teeth ” ), Fifa banned him for nine internationals, all football for four months and fined him 100,000 swiss francs. The Uruguayans cried imposter news program. “ You couldn ’ t have seen it nowadays because nothing happened, ” captain Diego Lugano said. “ You have to be unintelligent to think that grade on Chiellini is from today. ” Coach Óscar Tabárez opted for a proverb : “ As we say in Uruguay, there are people who are hiding behind a tree wait for person to make a mistake. ” A Uruguayan television receiver station accused english journalists of whipping things improving. “ It would be good if these Englishmen, ” they intoned, “ remember how they won the World Cup in 1966 with a testis which was not a goal. ” The Uruguayan federation appealed ( unsuccessfully ), Suárez ’ s lawyer claimed a “ European-based ” campaign and the nation ’ s president declared Fifa were “ fascists ” and “ a bunch together of old sons of bitches ”. The ban was served, a Suárez-less Uruguay lost 2-0 to Colombia and he wouldn ’ t turn again until October. even Chiellini thought the ban was excessive and Suárez said he would never attend another Fifa gala. He has, though, apologised to Chiellini .Suárez and Chiellini during the 2011 Champions League quarter-final in Turin.

Suárez and Chiellini during the 2017 Champions League quarter-final in Turin. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Four years on, there is temptation to thoughtfully reappraise the incident. “ I don ’ thymine think I have always actually injured a chap professional, ” he wrote. “ I know biting appals a fortune of people but it ’ s relatively harmless … none of the bites have been like Mike Tyson on Evander Holyfield ’ s ear. ” But then the urge subsides and you ’ re left only with the initial reaction : biting is something children do but quickly learn is weird. If you ’ re even on the fence, then let the final son go to person we should listen to. “ Biting has no stead in sports, ” Bruce Springsteen said after he was inexplicably asked about the incident. If the Boss says bite has no target in sports, then biting has no place in sports .