Luis Suarez has reignited an issue that threatened to ruin his soccer career.
Why?
Liverpool’s star striker, currently the Premier League’s leading scorer with 23 goals, has told Uruguayan radio station Sport890 AM that racist allegations made by Manchester Untied defender Patrice Evra were ‘all false,’ after the incident that happened two years ago.
By speaking out about this topic, Suarez has risked reopening the race row which saw him banned for eight games back in February 2011 after he was found guilty of racially abusing United left back Evra by the English Football Association.
Since then 27-year-old Suarez bit Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season, which he admitted regretting in the same radio interview where he talked about Evra, along with regretting another separate biting incident that occurred while he was playing for Ajax in 2011.
As for the incident with Evra, the Uruguayan goalscoring machine showed no remorse. This is what he had to say.
We love to talk about you as a soccer player Luis, so please keep it that way.
But I fear that with this outburst against Evra and the Liverpool star hitting out at allegations of racism thrown towards him, we may be chatting about Suarez’s off-field issues and previous discrepancies instead of focusing on what a wonderful player he really is. Let’s not drag the past up. It should be all about there here and the now, because Suarez has been sensational this season.
(MORE: Suarez claims Patrice Evra race allegations were “all false”)
Despite missing the opening eight games of the PL campaign, after being banned for biting Ivanovic last season, Suarez leads the PL with 23 goals in just 18 games. He has been sensational ever since he returned and is a big reason why Liverpool are just four points off top spot with 12 games to go. Suarez, believe it or not, is a shoe-in to win the PFA Player of the Year award and is likely to be in the Premier League Team of the Year too.
There’s only thing that can scupper him picking up all of those individual accolades at the end of the season... his mouth.
Zip it shut, Luis. You really don’t need to talk about anything that has happened in the past, no matter how much injustice you feel. Let your boots do the talking, keep banging in the goals and get your head down to help Liverpool qualify for the UEFA Champions league, or potentially win the PL title, and Uruguay do well in the World Cup.
Talking, or doing other things with his mouth, has only got Suarez in huge amounts of trouble in the past. Now won’t be any different.