From goal-mouth saves, dressing room bust-ups, biting
players, handballs to finger-wagging, Luis Suarez has munched a little more
than chewable in a controversy-laden career. He doesn’t seem like he can nip it
in the bud or maybe he is just a little too green around the gills. Like a
leopard, with an embarrassing renown for its indelible dark spots, Suarez is
bespeckled with an ugly but inate trait which he has hitherto found difficult
to oust.
Up there with the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Falcao in
quality, he is one of the brightest talent ever to have graced modern football.
However, poor Luis should be apparent to us for such great reasons, but for the
smoke of his attitude befogging his dexterous footballing artistry. He has been
unable to keep the fume out of his chimney since it ushered him to public glare
in 2005.
After bursting on to the South-American scene for Nacional in
the 2005/2006 season, Suarez made his international debut in a world cup
qualifier for Uruguay the following year. He failed to score but did make the
headlines with an 85th minute sending off after two yellows. A
red-mist debut I call it.
Consequent to virtuoso performances, Suarez caught the eye
of several leading clubs before Ajax snapped him up on a five-year contract in
2007. That November, Suarez continued to show his combative streak when he and
team –mate Albert Luque were fined for a dressing room altercation during
half-time against Feyernoord.
In South Africa 2010, Suarez’s handball on the goal-line
prevented Ghana’s Dominic Adiyiah from scoring in the last minute of the World
cup Semi-final. He was subsequently sent off (his second international
dismissal after being shown a red card on his Uruguay debut in February 2007),
with Asamaoh Gyan missing the resulting penalty, Suarez celebrated on the
sidelines and Uruguay went on to triumph in the shoot-out bringing Suarez in
for stinging criticism across the globe.( Doubt he has a Ghanaian fan, the
black star team was en-route history lane to become the first African country
to ever get through to the World cup semi-final, if Suarez had not blackballed
that last minute goal-bound attempt with his last-ditch goalkeeping).
After his World cup horror-heroics, Suarez increased his
notoriety that November (2010), earning a seven-game suspension for biting the
shoulder of PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal during an Eredivisie clash with Ajax.
He was thence christened Suarez the “cannibal of Ajax” by Dutch newspaper De
Telegraaf.
Following his move to Liverpool in January 2011, he was
entwined in a tackle with then Everton player Jack Rodwell and went down with
apparent minimal contact, leading to the sending off of Rodwell. More
controversy as the Liverpool striker is accused of a “nice dive” by West Brom’s
Pau, Scharner after being challenged by Jerome Thomas at the Hawthorns in
October 2011. Charlie Adam converted the penalty in a 2-0 win, while Scharner
tagged Suarez as one “of the best in the world at winning penalties”. Still in
October 2011, subsequent to a month-long investigation, Suarez was charged for
racially abusing Manchester United defender, Patrice Evra. The Frenchman made
the claims immediately after the match at Anfield, alleging Suarez had used a
racist insult on him ‘at least 10 times’ during the game. Suarez was banned for
eight matches and fined £40000.
Another league game, another bout in the bowl, like Suarez never gets tired of
hurling pebbles in his glass house, he was seen making an offensive gesture at
supporters after Liverpool’s defeat to Fulham. The Uruguayan had been taunted
by home fans after referee Kevin Friend
did not award him a penalty when he went over after a challenge by Brede
Hangeland in the second half. At this time, although not yet penalized, Suarez
had already been charged by the football association over the Evra incident, he
was handed a further one-match ban for the gesture.
United and Liverpool matched again at Old Trafford (later in
February 2012), but more contention ensued as Suarez refused to handshake Evra
before kick off.
In October 2012, Suarez ducked for the dramatic as he
celebrated a goal in the Merseyside derby by diving in front of then Everton
manager, David Moyes, who had earlier claimed that “divers such as Suarez are
putting fans off the English game”.
Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers felt the onus was not on
Suarez to own up to the handball that helped Liverpool reach the FA cup fourth
round at the expense of minnows Mansfield.
But Suarez could have followed a different path and live to the herald of a hero if he had
acknowledged fault after using his right wrist to beat the ball down over the
line and celebrating Liverpool’s second.
During a World cup qualifier for Uruguay in March, Suarez
appeared to punch Chilean defender, Gonzalo Jara after tussling with him.
Although the referee failed to see the incident, with FIFA launching an
investigation, a retrospective punishment is impending for the karate kid.
And now at a time when the English Premier League winds up
and the stage curtain drops on its eye-catching theatrics, Suarez says it is
not over, and pulls a bizarre Dracula of an act. A flick of on-pitch
cannibalism. During Liverpool’s premier league game against Chelsea at Anfield
in April, Suarez scuffled with Branislav Ivanovic in the box and either
misplaced his temper or of a sudden realized he was very hungry, before
apparently taking a bite out of the Serbian defender, whom he mistook for a giant
pizza. The Uruguayan escaped without
punishment from the referee, but has been handed a 10-game ban that will
extend six games into next season, for his inability to control his on-pitch
appetite.
Although the reaction from Anfield was swift and serious,
Liverpool’s determination to retain their prize asset at all costs undermines
their condemnation of his actions. Luis Suarez’s time at Anfield has been beset
by controversy but he remains Liverpool’s only world class forward (first
Liverpool player to score 30 goals in a season since Fernando Torres), so
expect to see him munch on some more pounds of flesh next season, because the
“cannibal of Ajax” has resurrected in Merseyside.
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