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Must-See Video: Suarez bites Chiellini during final Group D match

Chiellini bite marks by Tony Gentile of Reuters

By CAITLIN MURRAY

It seems Luis Suarez thought his Uruguay side needed a little more bite in their attack — literally.

In a shocking turn of events, Italy was knocked out of the World Cup group stage by Uruguay on Tuesday, 1-0, but it was what happened in the 79th minute that everyone couldn’t stop talking about. For the third time in his career, Suarez appeared to be caught on camera biting another player during the run of play.

This time it was defender Giorgio Chiellini, who fell down grabbing his shoulder and screaming after Suarez pushed his head into Chiellini’s shoulder and appeared to bite it. Suarez was left clutching his mouth in apparent pain. Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez seemed uninterested in what Chiellini had to show him and no card was given.

But FIFA will reportedly investigate the incident and Suarez could face a ban of up to two years if found to have committed the most serious of violations to FIFA’s codes.

After the match, Suarez denied biting Chiellini, reportedly saying: “I had contact with his shoulder, nothing more.” But Chiellini called Suarez “a sneak” and encouraged FIFA to use video evidence to discipline Suarez.

Watch video of the incident after the jump:

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What do you think? Is there another explanation for what happened in the video? If Suarez did bite Chiellini, how should FIFA respond?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. A lot to chew on! Nevertheless, one thing is obvious,…Italians bring out the worst in people (Suarez, Zidane) even if they have to beat it out of them (Gentile vs. Maradona)!

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  2. Chiellini is a diving hack and deserved it.

    Instead of biting him Saurez should have flopped on the ground and stayed there to waste time.
    Chiellini did this constantly while the score was tied

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    • The game was tied at that time and Uruguay on its way out, you moron. You deserve to be bitten at work, to see how you feel about it then. That’s if you even work.

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  3. My first thought was that Suarez should be banned for the rest of the tournament and then a year more. On reflection, I think he should be prosecuted for assault. It’s the third time. Obviously suspensions aren’t enough; he needs to face jail time.

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    • That’s up to local prosecutors, and who knows what Brazilian laws are like. But FIFA certainly has the power to enforce a ban from the game.

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    • Hey Gary and others calling for a lifetime ban,

      Did you express the same outrage after Nigel de Jong’s Liu Kang kick to Alonso in the 2010 WC final? Or, how about Song’s brutal “Macho Man” elbow drop to the back of Mandzuckic just last week? Both of which were brutal and barbaric just like the bite.

      What Suarez did was disgraceful and disgusting and he should be banned from the tournament no doubt, possibly even longer. But, I read post like yours and others calling for a lifetime ban and wonder where this “outrage” is during earlier instances of deliberate violence on the pitch???

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      • Is this a joke? This man wanders around the field biting people, year after year, suspension after suspension. A basic google search could tell you this! This is a repeat offender of the obvious and bizarre sort.

        HE BITES PEOPLE REPEATEDLY AT WORK!!! JESUS!!! WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THIS?!?

      • Calm down Zworst. Let’s have a civil conversation. I

        know Suarez’s history so I don’t need to “google it”. BTW, read my post. I’m not standing up for the guy. I’m simply asking where the outrage is when other commit deliberately violent acts.

        de Jong is repeat offender. “A basic google search could tell you this! This is a repeat offender of the obvious and bizarre sort”

        Is ending someone’s career or breaking people’s legs is OK?

        You could argue that a dirty tackle is “in the context of the game” but karate kicking someone, just like biting someone, is not. Both acts of violence are disgusting.

      • I don’t believe he should get a lifetime ban. However there’s a big difference between a player who puts in a high boot or a hard tackle and someone deciding to bite a player. At this point the bigger problem is he just can’t stop himself from doing it.

        We all should have seen this coming though, considering his comments after the England match. He’ll probably continue to act as if he’s the victim.

      • Ok ok. This is fair. I see your point of view. And I apologize. Outta line. And yes you are right about Mr. de Jong, who has made meaningful and repeadted contributions to uglifying the beautiful game.

        Perhaps we can make peace over this classic Youtube clip… Come along, and take a hit from de Jong.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSPfewsvAKg

      • I think there is a HUGE difference between rough play during the normal course of the game and complete abnormal behavior. De Jong is rough play (though he should be punished – but not to the same degree). De Jong makes reckless or rough challenges when trying to win the ball. Reckless (repeated) behavior should be punished.

        However, biting someone is ABNORMAL. Punching someone is abnormal, but biting is much, much worse. Song got a 3 match ban for that elbow he three 2 games ago. Suarez should get a 10 game ban from FIFA events.

      • The situations are not comparable although I am certainly no fan of de Jong and hope he gets his some day. However, his kick was during a fight for the ball, during the run of play. It was certainly dangerous play and I would have liked to have seen a red card, but it was not comparable to an unprovoked bite. Likewise, the elbow in the back was bad, deserving a red card and several game suspension, but not as bad as a bite. As someone pointed out elsewhere, human bites are actually more dangerous than that of many wild animals as we have more bacteria in our mouths. Also, the deciding factor for me is that this is the third time Suarez has done this. Suspensions are clearly not enough, he’s a repeat offender who needs to face a court.

  4. A bit off-topic but seems we may have another must-see video on the way tonight, after 4 players and 3 coaches (including both head coaches) were ejected after a melee in the US Open Cup match between the Silverbacks and Rapids at DSGP. Rapids currently playing with 10, Silverbacks with 8…

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  5. C is for Chiellini thats good enough for me
    C is for Chiellini thats good enough for me

    Suarez eats the Chiellini
    nom nomnom nom nom

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  6. This is such a huge overreaction. He clearly didn’t mean it. My one year old nephew bit me the other day and left a bigger mark. Typical Italian cry babies.

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  7. He needs to get the maximum 24 months. Hopefully the ban can be global (including club play) and not just for international play. Enough is enough.

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    • Lifetime ban, as far as I’m concerned. Football isn’t boxing – there’s no room for a football version of Mike Tyson.

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  8. It seems when he loses his temper his first reaction is to bite. He put up a show holding his teeth to make us think his teeth got caught on his shoulder but he knew he messed up. Just a weird way to lose your temper

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    • 3rd time he did it too, what is up with him and biting, seems to be some sort of kneejerk reaction for him, I mean he looked calm then wham, took a bite. Makes you wonder how his parents raised him or what life he lived before if he thinks its ok to just bite people.

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    • Yes, there will be a ban, at least for 2 matches: if Uruguay do beat Columbia they could face Brazil in the quarter finals (although, Chile…), and FIFA would like Brazil to advance at least into the semis to make sure the atmosphere remains more party than protest.

      For similar reasons the ban might be only 2 matches, so that if somehow a Suarez-less Uruguay do make it to the final 4 then a Suarez’s return would draw the attention.

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      • So, anything Brazil does is the result of FIFA helping them. I did not see that help from the refs against Mexico. Yours and every other gullible people is that because of that penalty on the first goal of the first game that ended 3-1 for Brazil, somehow there’s a conspiracy from FIFA to help Brazil. Let’s say that that game had 1-1 assuming that Brazil would only manage to score once had the penalty not been called. Croatia, would still not make it through out of the group because they chickened out against Mexico.

        On the other hand, you fail to realize that if there’s ant team that got pushed through the group stage to the round of 16 was Uruguay. First game, Costa Rica gets a man sent off for a foul against Lugano that is never called against anybody let alone Uruguay themselves. They still lost that game. Second game against England, with the game tied, Godin was afforded the opportunity of continuing playing in that game and the next game against Italy.

        Third game yesterday was the worst; Italy gets a man sent off with a red for a foul that was at most a yellow, clearly the Mexican ref was influencing an otherwise stalemate by affording Uruguay to play with an extra man. Then with the game still tied, the ref and his crew of incompetent assistants failed to see the obvious. But, not only that, after Chiellini showed him the bite, he made no effort to investigate by at least asking the linesman or the fourth referee.

      • Apologies for confusing the FIFA conspiracy theories. In any case it seems the minimum ban from FIFA would be 2 matches, maximum is 2 years.

      • “a man sent off with a red for a foul that was at most a yellow”

        Are you insane? He totally deliberately stomp-kicked a guy at nearly knee-height.

      • Italy’s red card was at most a yellow?!
        Wow, you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, do you?

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