Luis Suarez up to his old tricks after getting away with PINCHING Antonio Rudiger, as Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand joke about the ‘cute’ striker’s history: ‘If your kids go from biting to pinching, you’re doing alright!’
- Luis Suarez gave Antonio Rudiger a pinch out of sight of the referee on Tuesday
- The two had a few words and squared up, but were quickly separated by the ref
- BT Sport pundits joked Rudiger was lucky given Suarez’s history of biting
Luis Suarez was up to his old tricks on Tuesday evening as the Atletico Madrid striker pinched Antonio Rudiger during their Champions League clash with Chelsea.
The incident happened when the pair became entangled as they battled for the ball near the goal line with the score at 1-0 before Rudiger confronted a giggling Suarez about his cheeky pinch.
It wasn’t clear at first what had angered Rudiger, but replays showed Suarez had squeezed the inside of the Chelsea defender’s thigh.
Luis Suarez was spotted pinching Antonio Rudiger during Tuesday’s Champions League clash
The Chelsea defender was not best pleased and angrily confronted Suarez afterwards
Rudiger, clearly not impressed, had a few words for the Uruguayan as well as a push, and the pair squared up momentarily before being separated by the referee.
BT Sports pundits Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand joked that Rudiger got off lightly given the forward’s checkered history of biting opponents.
‘When you’re telling your kids off, and they go from biting to pinching, you’re doing alright,’ joked former Blues midfielder Cole after the game.
The pair got into a pushing match and exchanged verbals before the referee separated them
BT Sport pundits Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole (R) joked Rudiger was fortunate he wasn’t bitten
Suarez was suspended for seven games in 2010 after biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder and got a 10-match suspension just three years later at Liverpool for biting Branislav Ivanovic’s arm.
Suarez clearly hadn’t learned his lesson by then with his 2014 World Cup campaign infamously remembered for a bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.
The 34-year-old has however never done it since then, but still enjoys a physical battle and getting underneath defenders’ skin anyway that he can.
Suarez got a 10-game ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic during match with Chelsea in 2013
He was also sent home from the 2014 World Cup for doing the same thing to Giorgio Chiellini
‘He’s so, is cute the right word?’ Rio Ferdinand said about Suarez. ‘The referee is never going to see that, he’s looking at their faces, but the real damage is done down there somewhere. It’s like, street.’
Chelsea will nevertheless be delighted by their night’s work, having taken the advantage in the tie after Olivier Giroud’s spectacular overhead kick won them the game.
Although Suarez’s pinch was more petulant than an act of violent conduct, it remains to be seen how UEFA will receive it and if they will opt to take any retrospective action.
Olivier Giroud scored a spectacular overhead kick to give Chelsea the win on Tuesday night