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Suarez admits bite, apologizes to Chiellini

LuisSuarezUruguay1-Italy2014 (Getty)

By TIM FONTENAULT

Four days after FIFA punished Luis Suarez for biting Giorgio Chiellini, the Uruguayan forward has vowed that such an incident will never occur again.

Suarez issued an apology on his official website on Monday, saying that he has had time to calm down and reflect on the situation while with his family in Montevideo. Chiellini responded over Twitter on Monday afternoon, writing in English, “It’s all forgotten. I hope FIFA will reduce your suspension.”

“Independent from the fallout and the contradicting declarations that have surfaced during these past days, all of which have been without the intention of interfering with the good performance of my national team, the truth is that my colleague Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me,” Suarez said. “For this: 1. I deeply regret what occurred. 2. I apologize to Giorgio Chiellini and the entire football family. 3. I vow to the public that there will never again be another incident like this involving me.”

In the midst of FIFA’s initial investigation, Suarez said that the incident was accidental, that he fell and hit his face against Chiellini’s shoulder. The biting incident is the third of Suarez’s career. He was suspended for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Ottman Bakkal while playing for Ajax and again for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic with Liverpool during the 2012-13 season.

Suarez has eight games remaining in his nine-game suspension from the national team. FIFA also banned him from all football activities, even those involving Liverpool, for four months. The Premier League’s leading scorer will not be available until October.

Without Suarez, Uruguay crashed out of the World Cup, losing to Colombia in the Round of 16.

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What do you think of Suarez’s apology? Did he mean it? Is this the end of Suarez’s antics on the field?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Classy fellow. The WC lost punch after he was unjustly banned. One game would have been more than enough.

    Alas, outraged mobs.

    Reply
  2. I’m much less interested in bashing Suarez than I am in praising Chiellini for consistently taking the high road on this. Great example.

    Reply
  3. Chiellini is either a coward or a moron by stating that FIFA should reduce Suarez’s punishment. After his team was defeated somewhat directly as a result of that infraction and the fact that it was not called after he showed the ref the bite mark, he should actually say that the punishment from FIFA was too lite. My opinion of Suarez doesn’t change, however I applaud he finally grew a little pair to own up.

    Reply
    • Chiellini has been pretty consistent with this. Clearly he thought at the time it warranted a red card, but immediately after the larger suspension was issued he thought that was too harsh.

      I don’t agree with Chiellini, but I also don’t think it is fair to call him a coward or a moron.

      Reply
      • Ok ok, I apologize to Chiellini for calling him those names. You’re right. I got carried away because in my view Suarez deserves no less than a year suspension.

      • Whoa there, Paul Terry. The proper apology from you would be: “The truth is that Giorgio Chiellini suffered the emotional result of name-calling in the comment of words assembled by me.”

      • Haha I was thinking the same thing but, as a result of a collision of words assembled by me.

  4. I always love it when a perp says,”I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it…..I HAVE SINNED!!!!!”

    Reply
  5. Jesus people.

    He bit a guy. 3rd time okay.

    He never killed anyone. He didn’t cheat on his wife or bang countless “skanks” or drunkenly abuse Americans during 9/11

    Give it a break

    Reply
    • +100
      Really sick of the armchair therapists saying; “he is sick needs help”. If he needs help, what the hell does Dick Cheney need?
      This is competitive sport for crying out loud!
      You should hear the things Dick Butkus used to do back in the day.

      Reply
    • Posts like these crack me up. You set your thresholds of unaccaptible behavior and foist them upon us with arrogant authority while belittling our thresholds.

      Besides the fact that it is unacceptible in this culture, there are several cultures in which biting trumps lots of things on your list by a mile. I get your point that we are close to beating a dead horse on this but then again that does not lessen the nastiness of the unacceptible behavior.

      Reply
    • First of all, it was just plain wrong. That’s intent to harm, and it has no place in soccer. What makes it worse is that he hasn’t learned from previous times, which suggests he may intend to harm again.

      Additionally, if the official had seen this, Suarez would have been ejected. His team would have been down a man, and this would have impacted his team’s performance. Italians should be mad because the non-call benefitted Uruguay, which may have lost the game.

      Reply
  6. Title should read “Suarez ‘Admits’ Bite, ‘Apologizes’ to Chiellini.”

    Think that would be more honest.

    Reply
    • exactly. Heck, I ADMIT that Chiellini suffered a bite during a collission with Suarez. See, it’s not really an apology if anyone can say it and it’s true.

      Reply
      • This is the best explanation of the “apology”. It’s everything I’ve been trying to put into words.

  7. “Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me”

    Wow, that’s pretty lame. He might as well have said “I’m sorry my chompers got stuck in his shoulder blade during a collision that was no fault of mine.”

    Trash.

    Reply
  8. I think the apology was toothless. He knows he didn’t “accidentally” bite him or whatever gibberish he uttered.

    Reply
    • It feels like a lawyerly triangulation where he attempts to be both contrite so as to engage in damage limitation and yet not admit the basic theory of what happened, which might have implications for legal contests, sponsor contracts, etc.

      Reply

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