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In for the kill . . . Suarez getting up close and personal with the Italy defender

LUIS SUAREZ HAS BEEN SUSPENDED FOR NINE GAMES and banned for four months from all football related activity. Suarez is prohibited from entering any stadium for the four months of the ban.

Suarez has been fined 100,000 Swiss francs (£66,000). An appeal may be lodged to Fifa by the player or the Uruguayan FA. There is no word yet as to whether Suarez and Uruguay will pursue that course of action, though surely they will. It was unclear how swiftly any appeal would be dealt with or if he is allowed to a play in the meantime.

The nine-match ban applies to Uruguay’s fixtures, while the four month ban covers all football. It’s bad news for Liverpool. Providing he stays at Anfield he will not be available for selection until late October – he would miss the first nine Premier League game of the season.

The first time he would be available for selection would be away at Newcastle on Nov 1. He would also miss Liverpool’s first three Champions League games and the early stages of the League Cup, though he could probably live with that.

Fifa claim that only the Uruguayan FA – and not Liverpool – are allowed to appeal the ban.

And they don’t seem to know if ‘all football related activity’ includes a transfer though they clearly stated that “administrative activity” was part of the ban.

“Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup when the eyes of millions of people
are on the stars on the field. The Disciplinary Committee took into account all the factors of the case and the degree of Mr Suárez’s
guilt in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Code.

The decision comes into force as soon it is communicated,” said Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. -The Telegraph