Jamie Carragher reveals what Luis Suarez told squad after biting Branislav Ivanovic during Liverpool vs Chelsea back in 2013.
Luis Suarez is no stranger to controversies. The Uruguayan has had his fair share of infamous incidents associated to him. One such, moment was when he bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic during his time with Liverpool in 2013.
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He was handed a 10-game ban by the FA. The suspension ran until the next season and caused him to miss the first 5 games. His then teammate, Jamie Carragher has now revealed what Luis Suarez told them in the dressing room after the infamous clash.
Jamie Carragher reveals what Luis Suarez told squad after biting Branislav Ivanovic
When asked about the incident, Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports, that Suarez initially attempted to deny any wrongdoing, despite the incident clearly being picked up on cameras.
‘When he came in the dressing room – I think we were starting to get things going on and things getting said to us about stuff that had gone on – Luis actually denied it at first!’ Carragher said.
‘Maybe he hoped the cameras hadn’t picked it up.
‘But I actually think that it had a massive effect on Liverpool next season. I think Suarez then got a seven or eight game ban and I think he missed the first four or five games of the following season.
‘That was the season Liverpool almost won the title, Suarez was the best player in the league. But there were two games Liverpool dropped points in. I think it was at home to Southampton they lost 1-0 and they drew away at Swansea, so there were five points dropped in the first few games and Luis Suarez didn’t play.
‘And the form he was in that season, you’d have to say there was a good chance that you think he would have turned one of those games. So that act and the ban that he got actually affected Liverpool much more the next season. There wasn’t too much riding on [the previous] season.’
‘You defend your player and you try to stick together as a club’
That wasn’t the first time Suarez bit an opposition player and it wasn’t the last. The striker would go on to bite Giorgio Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup.
‘Well he’d actually done it before, at Ajax I think before he came, and there was a situation there that he was involved in’ Carragher said.
‘And there was obviously a situation afterwards I think which probably pushed Liverpool to eventually move him on. I think he wanted to go anyway to Barcelona at that stage.
‘Something happened at the World Cup, so that’s something where he obviously gets frustrated.
‘I’ve played alongside him and at that time you come out and defend your players. You know it’s wrong. Of course you do, but you come out and you defend your player and you try to stick together as a club and support him.”
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