He bit Otman Bakkal. He bit Branislav Ivanović. He bit Giorgio Chiellini. He stopped Ghana reaching a World Cup semi-final by handling on the goal line, and he was banned for racially abusing Patrice Evra. He is also one of the finest strikers the game has produced, which is what makes the Uruguayan so hard to file. Our number one villain is Luis Suárez.
His career began at Nacional and took him through Groningen, Ajax, Liverpool, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, back to Nacional, then on to Grêmio and Inter Miami.
Three bites and a handball
- November 2010, while at Ajax: bit Bakkal on the shoulder during a match. Ban: 7 games.
- April 2013: bit Chelsea's Ivanović on the arm in a Premier League game. Ban: 10 games.
- 2014 World Cup in Brazil: bit Italy's Chiellini on the shoulder and received a four-month worldwide ban.
- 2010 World Cup quarter-final: deliberately handled on the line to stop a Ghana goal. He was sent off, and Uruguay still went through.
There is also 2011, when he was banned for 8 matches for racially abusing Manchester United's Evra.
Why Suárez finishes above Maradona
For Barcelona alone he scored 198 goals. He won the Champions League, La Liga, the Premier League Golden Boot and the Copa América. Put that beside the bites, the cheating and the racism case, and no other player in the game's history has mixed that much world-class quality with that much world-class misbehaviour.
Suárez's bites on film
That closes Football Villains
Over the past 30 days we have counted down the worst-behaved players in football history, from Gattuso's headbutts to Suárez's teeth. Whatever else they did, these bad boys never let the game get boring.
Who would you put at number one?
