On this day seven years ago, Luis Suarez shocked the world by biting Branislav Ivanovic during a 2-2 draw between Liverpool and Chelsea.
With the Reds 2-1 down to the Blues at Anfield, a frustrated Suarez took a chunk out of Ivanovic’s right arm on April 21, 2013.
If VAR had been in operation at the time, the Uruguay striker would have undoubtedly been shown a straight red card.
But without the technology, referee Kevin Friend did not see the incident and Suarez stayed on the pitch.
And it got even worse for Chelsea when Suarez went on to earn Liverpool a draw with an equaliser seven minutes into stoppage time.
After realising what the 33-year-old had done, a Match of the Day commentator said: “That is quite incredible and pretty disgusting.”
On the day of the incident, Suarez apologised for his ‘inexcusable behaviour’.
I'm sad for what happened this afternoon, I apologize Ivanovic and all football world for my inexcusable behaviour. I'm so sorry about it!!
— Luis Suárez (@LuisSuarez9) April 21, 2013On Twitter, he said: “I'm sad for what happened this afternoon, I apologize [sic] Ivanovic and all football world for my inexcusable behaviour. I'm so sorry about it!!”
Speaking about the event, Ivanovic later said: "When it happened I was surprised and angry.
”But after the game I calmed down, and all was forgotten. We spoke on the phone, I accepted the apology, the police did not press charges.
"It was a really strange situation. Overnight I was everywhere because of what happened even though I was only a minor character [in the story]. For the first time in the news everything was about Ivanovic.”
Subsequently, the Football Association punished Suarez with a 10-game ban, which saw him miss the remainder of the 2012/13 season and the start of the 2013/14 campaign.
Remarkably, this was not the first time Suarez had bitten an opponent… and it wasn’t to be the last either.
During his time as Ajax captain, he was banned for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal’s shoulder in 2010.
And just a year after biting Ivanovic, Suarez struck again for the THIRD time when he sunk his teeth into Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder in Uruguay’s 1-0 win over Italy at the 2014 World Cup.
Again, he escaped punishment from the referee, but FIFA came down hard on him.
Football’s governing body suspended Suarez from all football-related activity for four months.
He was additionally banned for nine international games, which ended his 2014 World Cup tournament.
Suarez joined Barcelona in a £75million deal from Liverpool during that summer, but his lengthy ban meant he did not make his debut for the LaLiga giants until October 25.
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