Suarez, whose club team is Liverpool in the BPL, claimed the bite was not a bite and that Chiellini's shoulder had been thrust out at him. But the video evidence from Tuesday's match was not only damning, so too was the shoulder of Chiellini, which video close-ups clearly showed had teeth marks.
The announcement from FIFA came Thursday and it marks the third
ban that Suarez has received in football for biting a player; for the last bite, on Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic two seasons ago, Suarez received a 10-game ban from the BPL. Uruguay must now play their next nine international matches without Suarez, their best player, including any remaining games at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Uruguay advanced to the knock-out phase of this World Cup in Brazil with the 1-0 win over Italy in the game in which Suarez bit Chiellini. The now Suarez-less Uruguayans next
play Columbia on Saturday.
Suarez scored two goals in the tournament, each of them brilliantly taken and coming in his country's crucial 2-1 win over England. He will now also miss the start of the BPL.
