The shockwaves will have been felt from the Maracana in Rio, to Melwood back in Liverpool, as Luis Suarez received a four-month ban from all football-related activity and was suspended for Uruguay’s next nine matches.
Uruguay’s talisman has been removed from their World Cup reckoning for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini and Liverpool will be without arguably the Premier League’s finest player until November.
Fifa needed to act swiftly and decisively and has done so on an unprecedented scale at a World Cup.
This punishment outstrips the eight-game suspension given to Italy’s Mauro Tassotti for breaking Luis Enrique’s nose with an elbow against Spain in the 1994 finals.
It is three bites and out for the 27-year-old, who is a world-class player but a character out of control. It is clear that when club and country draw the line it is only a matter of time before Suarez steps over it.
This World Cup here in Brazil has been a celebration of glorious attacking football and open games across this vast, football-mad country.
Suarez entered into the spirit with a magnificent performance and two goals in Uruguay’s decisive win against England – only to leave the party in shame for his assault on Chiellini.
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