Luis Suarez: The most controversial footballer ever?

I’m sure you are all aware by now that in yesterday afternoon’s clash between Chelsea and Liverpool there was a rather crazy incident involving Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Chelsea’s centreback Branislav Ivanovic. For those of you who remain unaware, this is the incident of which I refer to:

What happened there is that Suarez, seemingly frustrated at Ivanovic’s challenge on him has proceeded to bite the defender just below the shoulder. Now I am of the opinion that no matter what the scenario, there is no need to be biting other people, let alone during a competitive and physical environment such as a football game in which tempers are liable to flair. It would also be easy to now forgive Suarez for what seems to be a momentary lapse in self-control, if it were not for the fact the Uruguayan has a history of highly controversial moments on the football pitch, a history that I will now elaborate on.
First of all, there is this incident, which occurred in 2010 whilst Suarez was still playing for Ajax in Holland:

That’s right, Suarez has not once, but twice bitten an opposing player during a game of football. On this occasion it was PSV’s Otman Bikkal, and Suarez actually managed to draw blood with his bite to the collar of Bikkal. He was later banned for 7 games because of the incident.

However, Suarez’ controversies are not limited solely to the mastication of his fellow players. He was sent off in the 2010 World Cup Quarter Final against Ghana whilst representing Uruguay for deliberately preventing a goal with his hands. A goal that, had it gone in, would have won Ghana the game and sent them in to the Semi-Final. But the goal didn’t go in having been denied by Suarez in a way that any goalkeeper would have been proud of, and Uruguay went on to win the game on a penalty shootout.

Suarez then transferred to Liverpool in January 2011, and controversy followed him to the Premier league. He was banned for 8 games in December 2011 for racially abusing Manchester United’s French left back Patrice Evra. Suarez then refused to shake Evra’s hand before a game between the two sides in March 2012 because of this.

 As recently as the first half of this season, Suarez’s desire to win at all costs has led to even more controversial moments in his career. In October 2012 Suarez was accused of diving in a game against Stoke by Stoke’s manager Tony Pulis. Suarez later admitted on Argentinian TV that he had “fallen” intentionally in order to attempt to win a penalty. Suarez had also been accused of diving against Everton the previous season, in order to get an Everton player sent off, and later celebrated a goal against Everton in a different match by performing a swallow dive in front of the Everton dugout.
As well as these major events, Suarez has also been involved in a variety of smaller events including alledged stamps, kicks, dodgy challenges and other altercations with a host of other plays, notably with Dave Jones of Wigan, Scott Parker and Sylvain Distin.

Fortunately for Suarez, he is a player of undeniable talent, as demonstrated by the fact he is currently the Premier League’s leading goal scorer and his recent nomination for PFA Player of the Year, and this talent may be seen as a way of excusing some of his actions. As author Terry Pratchett suggested in his novel Thief of Time, “Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up” and this logic can, and perhaps will, be applied to Luis Suarez’s flashes of genius on the football pitch. However, for me Luis Suarez’s footballing ability will always be overshadowed by his willingness to cheat for his own gain, and I think that a player of lesser quality may not have been given so many chances to apologise for his actions, and a may have even been forced from the game.

Suarez is not the only player to have featured in such controversial events in a football ground, and for a comparison, I direct you towards the two following clips:

The first clip there is of Manchester United's charismatic French Striker Eric Cantona performing his now infamous kung fu lunge on a Crystal Palace fan after he had received a red card. The second clip is from the 2006 World Cup Final and is, of course, of Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Marco Materazzi. Both of these incidents involved stars of the world game, players of a standard that Suarez is yet to even reach' but in each of these cases this incident is often the first thing that springs to a person's mind when the player's name is mentioned. This shows just how drastically a career can be overshadowed by one moment of high profile madness, and in Suarez's case it is not even a single moment. At the time Cantona managed to recover from the incident and proceeded to have a fruitful career, but Zidane's action was his last of a long and prosperous career, having announced that that game would be his last. This just shows that it is unlikely that Suarez will ever be able to shed his mantle as a cheater and a controversial figure, no matter how much he can and may in future achieve.

Written by Paddy Milnes
Follow us on twitter: @ChapsTalkFball @thepaddy

The information in this post is from BBC Sport