Liverpool and Chelsea drew a thrilling English Premier League encounter this morning at Anfield 2-2 but the wonderful game was overshadowed by yet another incident involving controversial Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
The incident came in the 66th minute, with Liverpool trailing the London side 2-1, Suarez lost the ball in the box, before turning around and inexplicably sinking his teeth into the arm of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic who dispossessed him.
What made the whole incident even more shocking and unsavoury was the fact that it seemingly happened without provocation or warning. There had been no prior signs of anything untoward happening between the two players in the lead up to the bizarre attack.
The incident and the match as a whole have just further illustrated the two sides of Luis Suarez that seem to be becoming more and more apparent with every game he plays in England: the absolute genius of his feet and his footballing brain versus the dark side of his personality, the merciless desire for victory that at times makes him aggressive, even down right unhinged.
While neither the referee, Kevin Friend or his assistant spotted the incident, it will no doubt be bought before the Football Association and a retrospective fine and lengthy ban will almost certainly follow. His season is all but over and if some of Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers’ quotes post game can be believed, his career at the club may be on the line as well.
“There is certainly nobody bigger than this football club, be it a player or manager… As much as I will always defend people if I think they are right, if I think they are wrong, I will tell them — as I have already this season with Luis.”
The incident has also drawn criticism from former Liverpool greats in Graeme Souness and Jaime Redknapp, who have both lashed out at Suarez’s actions in the immediate aftermath of the game.
“It’s embarrassing,” said former player and manager, Souness on Sky Sports as part of his work as a TV pundit. “The club, the board of directors’ job is to get the best players and keep them, but he’s making it very difficult for himself to stay at Liverpool.”
“That’s what children do, bite things if they’re not happy about it. Suarez must be on the borderline for doing something crazy every time he’s out there if he’s capable of that.
Fellow Sky pundit and former Liverpool player, Jaime Redknapp also criticised the Uruguayan and questioned whether Liverpool could possibly keep him, despite Suarez undeniably being their best player this season.
“What he did today is indefensible. Why would you want to take a chunk out of someone’s arm?
“I would be surprised if he plays again this season.”
The incident has overshadowed an utterly pulsating encounter between the two sides, that was full of personal stories for players and managers both.
It was a first return to Anfield for much loved, former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, who won the Champions League and FA Cup during his time at the Merseyside outfit, and still calls Liverpool city his home. Even his being at the helm of Chelsea was not enough to stop the Kop faithful giving the Spaniard a standing ovation.
Current Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers also has a history with Chelsea, having worked on Jose Mourinho’s backroom staff there for a number of seasons.
It was also a special occasion for Daniel Sturridge and Fernando Torres who were both facing off against their former clubs.
It was Chelsea who struck first in the 26th minute, when Oscar found himself in an acre of free space in the box and headed home Juan Mata’s perfect corner passed a diving Pepe Reina.
Liverpool were playing uncharacteristically slowly and even with three in the centre of midfield weren’t making their possession and short passing game work in their favour.
Indeed it wasn’t until the second half that the home side sprung to life, after the introduction of Sturridge for the pedestrian Phillipe Coutinho. A raking ball from Jaime Carragher found Stewart Downing tearing down the left flank, a deft inside pass found Suarez in support who curled a beautiful ball into the path of Sturridge who tapped home in front of the Kop.
Less than five minutes later, Suarez turned provider for the Chelsea side, when he handled the ball inside the Liverpool area trying to mark former Red, Fernando Torres.
The penalty was awarded and Belgian international, Eden Hazard duly sent Reina the wrong way and swept his shot low into the right hand side of the net.
Nine or so minutes later came the bite, which perhaps ironically would lead to the huge amounts of extra time that would help Liverpool to grab a desperate late point in spectacular fashion.
In a reversal of Liverpool’s first goal, it was Daniel Sturridge who provided the Uruguayan with the assist, curling a ball across the box with his weaker right foot for Suarez to head home his 23rd Premier League goal of the season and his 30th in all competitions in the 96th minute.
A point was definitely the better result for the Reds, whose dreams of qualifying in any European competition for next season, let alone the Champions League died on the operating table with their defeat to Southampton at St Mary’s three weeks ago. For Chelsea it seems to have made their quest for a top four finish all the more difficult, particularly because fellow London sides Arsenal and Tottenham both had wins this weekend.
Sadder still though was the bite, just another Suarez incident that won’t be going away any time soon.
Image: Getty
