Uruguay striker's lawyer blames "pressure from England and Italy" as he outlines defence argument
An unrepentant Luis Suárez was on Wednesday night planning how to escape a record World Cupban after his lawyer branded his biting of Giorgio Chiellini "casual play" that led to the Uruguaystriker suffering a worse injury than his opponent.
Alejandro Balbi, a Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) board member, also claimed his client was the victim of an English, Italian and Brazilian conspiracy to expel the striker from the tournament for helping knock the former two countries out while AUF president Wilmar Valdez said there was not enough proof to sanction the player.
Suárez on Wednesday night faced a heavy sanction if found guilty by Fifa of the third biting offence of his career, its disciplinary committee confirming he would learn his fate by the end of Thursday following the examination of footage from Tuesday's Group D match between Uruguay and Italyin Natal.
Rather than apologise for an episode that has marred the most spectacular of World Cups, Suárez attempted on Wednesday to wriggle his way out of a ban, with Balbi and AUF president Wilmar Valdez travelling to Rio de Janeiro to plead his case.
"We don't have any doubts that this has happened because it's Suárez and secondly because Italy was eliminated," Balbi told Uruguayan radio Sport 890, compounding the conspiracy theories being peddled by his country's media. "There's a lot of pressure from England and Italy. We're polishing off a defence argument."
That argument will include accusing Chiellini of injuring Suárez's eye in fending off the striker as he apparently sank his teeth into the Italian's shoulder. Valdez claimed Fifa might struggle to construct a case. "We understand that there is not sufficient evidence to truly sanction Luis," he said.
Balbi, who also insinuated that World Cup hosts Brazil may be part of any conspiracy against their old foes, said of the disciplinary proceedings: "There is a possibility that they ban him, because there are precedents. But we're convinced that it was an absolutely casual play, because if Chiellini can show a scratch on one shoulder, Suárez can show a bruised and almost shut eye.
"If every player starts showing the injuries he suffers and they open inquiries for them, everything will be way too complicated in the future. We're going to use all the arguments possible so that Luis gets out in the best possible way."
Were that to fail, Uruguay had the option of a cynical attempt to exploit the disciplinary system to enable Suárez to play in their last-16 encounter with Colombia at the Maracana.
Despite promising a decision on the case as a matter of "urgency", Fifa was on Wednesday unable to guarantee any appeal launched by the 27-year-old would not allow him to play again at the tournament. It did confirm that its disciplinary committee, six of whom were sitting in judgment of Suárez, had the discretion to take the striker's previous seven-game and 10-game suspensions for biting into account when issuing any sanction, which could include a worldwide ban of up to two years. Panel member Martin Hong said: "It's our duty to see justice done."
Suárez's repeat offending placed him at serious risk of being handed the longest suspension in World Cup history, exceeding the eight games sat out by Italy's Mauro Tassotti for breaking the nose of Spain's Luis Enrique in 1994.
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