In the first half of Uruguay’s final group game against Italy at the 2014 World Cup, Luis Suárez launched a late, clumsy challenge on Andrea Pirlo, upending the playmaker with the subtlety of a man taking down a tree with a blunt axe.
As Pirlo tumbled, a flailing forearm struck Suárez around the ear. Suárez, assuming the role of the wronged man, held his head, stared at Pirlo, looking hurt and shocked – shocked! – that anyone could do such a thing.
Around 40 minutes later, the score still 0-0, Suárez did similar. But this time the catalyst was something more unusual. Add Giorgio Chiellini’s name to the list with Otman Bakkal and Branislav Ivanovic: for the third time in his career, Suárez had bitten an opponent during a match.
Before that tournament he was on a PR campaign. This was a new Luis Suárez. Not the one who racially abused Patrice Evra, or bit Ivanovic and Bakkal, or punched Dominic Adiyiah’s header off the line against Ghana. “I want to change the bad boy image that has stuck for a bit because I don’t think I am at all how I have been portrayed,” Suárez told Sports Illustrated.
Warming to the theme, he also said: “Obviously, it’s not the most attractive image that I can have for myself. But that’s not what I want to be remembered for. I want to do things right. I really, really do.”
Uruguay had to beat Italy to go through but the game was stodgy, both teams toiling in the Natal heat: Suárez looked like a man playing with weights on his legs. On 66 minutes, the ball broke to him, through on goal, but Gigi Buffon dived to save his jabbed shot.
According to Suárez, this was the seed of what followed. He explained in his autobiography that in both previous incidents, frustration caused his dental outbursts. He bit Bakkal while playing for Ajax when “we were on a bad run that would lead to our manager Martin Jol getting the sack”, while the Ivanovic incident came after “I gave away a stupid penalty”.
And so it was again. “If I had scored that goal,” he wrote, “then what followed would never have happened. I would not have done anything. Nothing.” So it was all Buffon’s fault, really.
On 79 minutes, Chiellini half headed away the ball and, as it bobbled out to the left, Suárez steamed in. The two jostled, then fell to the floor. Nobody nearby seemed to react. Matteo Di Sciglio, five yards away, protested vaguely only after seeing how outraged and bemused his team-mate was. You can’t blame him.
A livid Chiellini chased Rodríguez, pulling aside his shirt to show the teeth marks. In a misguided act, Gaston Ramírez attempted to cover the shoulder as if that would make it go away. Suárez sat on the floor holding his teeth. In his previous biting episodes he’d targeted fleshier areas. Chiellini, a man who looks as if he was chiselled rather than born, would have been altogether tougher.
In the stands, it was unclear what had happened. Some thought it was a mere headbutt but within a couple of minutes realisation dawned. Journalists looked at each other in disbelief: oh my god, he’s done it again.
Even those with access to replays weren’t convinced, including Jan Åge Fjørtoft, now a TV journalist. As proof of his scepticism, he bit his hand then compared the marks, tweeting the results. Twitter can be awful but when a former Swindon striker chews part of his body and posts the picture to indicate a footballer hasn’t bitten another, you remember why you log on.
Chiellini, obviously, was more certain. “It was ridiculous not to send Suárez off,” he said. “Suárez is a sneak and he gets away with it because Fifa want their stars to play in the World Cup. I’d love to see if they have the courage to use video evidence. The referee saw the bite mark, too, but he did nothing.”
As for Suárez, butter refused to melt. “These are just things that happen out on the pitch that you shouldn’t make such a big deal out of,” he shrugged.
Suárez was so deep in denial he even pleaded innocence to his wife. When Diego Godín scored the winner, he didn’t celebrate with his usual gusto. “I was already thinking about the aftermath,” he said recently.