Suarez should seek treatment: FIFA

Luis Suarez should seek professional help to stop him from repeatedly biting opponents, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke has said.

Asked for his views on Suarez’s four-month global ban for biting, Valcke told reporters on Friday: “I think he should find a way to stop doing it.

“He should go through a treatment. It is definitely wrong.”

Uruguay striker Suarez was kicked out of the World Cup on Thursday for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during a Group D match on Tuesday.

It is the third time in Suarez’s career he has been banned for biting.

Valcke dismissed comments from Chiellini on Friday who said the punishment on Suarez – the heaviest sanction of a player at a World Cup ever – was too harsh.

“You will always find someone who says it’s excessive,” Valcke said.

“It’s not only him who says it’s excessive.”

When pointed out that Chiellini was the victim, Valcke replied: “So what?

“They are decisions which are made by the disciplinary committee based on what they have seen,” Valcke said.

“Again, it’s not just about the incident – it was seen by hundreds of millions of people.

“It is not what you want, your kids, the little ones who are playing football around the world, to see in a football game at the level of the World Cup, or any level – amateur football or professional football.”

Asked if Suarez’s club – English Premier League giants Liverpool – were being unfairly punished by the sanction, he replied: “It’s not Liverpool punished, it’s the player being punished.”