What's the story?
Barcelona star forward Luis Suarez has vowed never to attend another FIFA gala. The Uruguayan international spoke to Sport on Thursday where he revealed how the punishment given to him by FIFA for his infamous biting incident at the 2014 World Cup took a severe toll on him and his family.
“I suffered. I'm a human being that suffers and has feelings. My daughter was aware of what her dad was going through," said Suarez.
After revealing how his family was told not to board a plane to Rio for Uruguay’s group game against Columbia during the 2014 World Cup, Suarez said, “When I came to Barcelona and I had to train in a gym because I couldn't go to the training ground. It hurt a lot. [My kids] kept asking me why I wasn't playing. To be honest, it really hurt.”
Also read: The Luis Suarez Bites: Chronicling the Uruguayan's toothy history
“I am aware that I made a mistake but I am also aware I am a human being. They have to understand that. They have to put themselves in someone's skin and realise how it hurts. I didn't go to the FIFA gala and I will never go again. I have no problem saying I will never go to a FIFA gala," he added.
In case you didn’t know...
Suarez was slapped with a four-month ban from all football-related activities for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in Uruguay’s group stage game against the Italians during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Barcelona made a €80 million move for the striker, who was at Liverpool at the time, shortly after the incident, however, the Uruguayan suffered further due to the restrictions imposed by FIFA.
The heart of the matter
The 30-year-old has given a first-hand account of how much of a toll the entire biting incident took on him and his family. The punishment dealt on Suarez by FIFA was branded ‘excessive’ by none other than Chiellini himself and FIFA were ruthless in enforcing the restrictions on the striker.
He also further stated how he let his daughter down and how not being allowed to train with his new teammates at Barcelona also affected him to a great extent.
Parallels from history
Such a ban on players for their antics on or off the pitch is not something new. Eric Cantona was famously banned for nine months for kung-fu kicking a Crystal Palace fan at his time at Manchester United.
Diego Maradona, too, was banned for 15 months shortly after Argentina’s 4-0 win over Greece at the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for cocaine and ephedrine.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Suarez has provided a glimpse of how traumatic the four-month ban by FIFA was for him and his family. Although what he did was quite wrong, perhaps FIFA could have reduced the amount of time he was banned for and allowed him to train with his teammates. FIFA’s ban on the Uruguayan now seems quite harsh in hindsight.
