GIORGIO CHIELLINI admitted he still admires Luiz Suarez despite being bit by the striker at the 2014 World Cup. The former Liverpool forward infamously took a chunk out of the Italian defender in an off-the-ball incident.
The officials of the match skipped it but Fifa slapped Suarez with a four-month suspension from all football activity. Before that, the Uruguay international had been disciplined for attacking Otman Bakkal in 2010 and Branislav Ivanovic in 2013.
Yet Juventus star Chiellini admitted that he does not hold a grudge-and also said that the pair had on the pitch the same mindset.
He wrote in his autobiography: “The truth is, I admire his mischief, for if Suarez were to lose that, he would become an average actor. This day at the 2014 World Cup, nothing weird happened. For much of the game, I labeled Edinson Cavani, another difficult guy to keep up with and we didn’t hold back on anything. I remembered all of a sudden that I was bitten on the head. It happened, that’s all there is to it, but that’s his technique when it comes to battling body-to-body contact and, if I can say so, that’s mine too. Suarez and I are close and I like being faced with strikers like him. A few days after the game, I called him but he did not need to apologize to me.”
He added saying that he too is acting like a b * * * * son on the field, and is proud of it. He believes mischief and some malice are part of the game and he would not call that cheating.
“You need to be wise in overcoming your opponent.”
