Suarez could face ban after bite claim

Italy's Giorgio Chiellini shows his shoulder, claiming he was bitten by Uruguay's Luis Suarez, during their 2014 World Cup Group D soccer match at the Dunas arena in Natal June 24, 2014.  -Reuters

Reuters/Natal, Brazil

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was at the centre of another biting storm after appearing to sink his teeth into the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during the teams' decisive World Cup Group D game on Tuesday.

Suarez and Chiellini clashed in the Italian penalty area 10 minutes from the end of the match and the furious Italian pulled open his shirt to show the mark to the referee.

Reuters photographs show what appeared to be bite marks on his shoulder and pictures also showed Suarez sitting on the ground holding his teeth immediately after the incident.

The Italians were still complaining about it when Uruguay captain Diego Godin scored with an 81st-minute header to secure a 1-0 win that sent them into the second round and eliminated Italy.

"It was ridiculous not to send Suarez off," Chiellini told Rai TV.

"It is clear, clear-cut and then there was the obvious dive afterwards because he knew very well that he did something that he shouldn't have done."

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez did not see the incident.

"I'd like to see the images," he told a news conference.

"I didn't see that. And if it happened the referee probably didn't see it. So no I don't have any more comments to make. We had more important things than this in a football match."

FIFA rules allow the use of TV footage to punish players for incidents unseen or unpunished by match officials.

Liverpool's Suarez was banned for 10 games last year after biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League game and in 2010 he was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax Amsterdam.

Four years ago he missed Uruguay's World Cup semi-final against the Netherlands after being sent for a handball on the line that denied Ghana what would have been a match-winning goal in the final minute of extra time in a last-eight match.

His latest indiscretion sent the world's social media into meltdown and within minutes of the match ending #Suarez was the top trending hashtag on Twitter.

A tweet from former Liverpool striker Michael Owen was typical of a wave of reaction from former players and pundits: "Tell me I'm seeing things. Surely Suarez didn't bite someone again?," he wrote.

"I'm genuinely gutted. I love watching him play more than any other player but he obviously can't control himself."

Suarez scored both goals in Uruguay's 2-1 victory over England having missed the opening match against Costa Rica as he recovered from knee surgery and until the incident had kept control of his temper during a bruising game against Italy.

Italy, who needed only a draw to progress, looked comfortable until they had Claudio Marchisio sent off for a foul on Egidio Arevalo Rios after an hour.