Suarez ban excessive: Chiellini
Italian defender calls Luis Suarez’s football ban excessive after the Uruguay striker was punished for biting him.
Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini has said the ban FIFA handed down to Luis Suarez is ‘excessive’ and that he feels no anger towards the controversial Uruguay striker.
| Suarez returns home |
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Luis Suarez flew home to Uruguay on Friday after being thrown out of the World Cup in Brazil. The Liverpool striker was met by President Jose Mujica when he landed at a military base next to Uruguay’s main airport before dawn, an air force spokesman said. Mujica had joined hundreds of fans who gathered at the airport on Thursday night to show their support for Suarez but they left after a few hours when it became clear he had not yet left Brazil. After his arrival on Friday, Suarez, his wife and other family members were driven to a home he has in the small coastal town of Solymar. |
Suarez was given longest sanction imposed at a World Cup by football’s governing body on Thursday, suspended from all football-related activity for four months and banned for nine international matches for biting Chiellini in their final Group D match in Natal on Tuesday.
Suarez will miss the first two months of Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League campaigns, and may not appear for his country in a non-friendly match again until 2016.
“Now inside me there’s no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez for an incident that happened on the pitch and that’s done,” Juventus centre back Chiellini said in a statement on his website (giorgiochiellini.com).
“There only remain the anger and the disappointment about the match.
“At the moment my only thought is for Luis and his family, because they will face a very difficult period. I have always considered unequivocal the disciplinary interventions by the competent bodies, but at the same time I believe that the proposed formula is excessive.
“I sincerely hope that he will be allowed, at least, to stay close to his team mates during the games because such a ban is really alienating for a player.”
Uruguay won the match 1-0 and advanced to meet Colombia in a round-of-16 tie on Saturday, but Suarez, 27, will miss the contest and the rest of the tournament after his ban.
The defeat meant Italy missed out on the knock-out stage.
FIFA also fined Suarez 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,000) after 10 hours of deliberations by its Disciplinary Committee.