Suarez: “Irritating” Ivanovic made me bite him

Luis Suarez has claimed that Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic ‘wound him up’ to the point where had to bite him.

Then at Liverpool, the 28-year-old striker was slapped with a 10-game ban for biting Ivanovic in a Premier League game at Anfield in 2013 – the second time that he had been punished for such an offence.

Bizarrely, the Uruguayan committed the same offence in a World Cup clash with Italy last summer, where he sank his teeth into the shoulder of Giorgio Chiellini, resulting in a four-month playing ban.

“Some of the blame in the past was mine, some of it must go to the defenders who provoked me,” said Suarez, now at Barcelona.

“Chiellini and Ivanovic, for example, are two that wind you up again, and again, and again.

“They are irritating, but now what happens is that I provoke the defenders. Before I’d engage in a battle with them, now I walk away.”

How can Suarez justify biting somebody? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.