His vampire days are over—so he says! Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez took to his Twitter on Monday, June 30, to admit to and apologize for biting Italian opponent Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup match last week.
Suraez's public apology comes four days after the pro was banned from any "football related activities" for four months and fined over $111,000 dollars.
"After several days of being home with my family, I have had the opportunity to regain my calm and reflect about the reality of what occurred during the Italy-Uruguay match on 24 June 2014," the biter wrote in a tweet titled "My apologies to Chiellini."
"Independent from the fallout and the contradicting declarations that have surfaced during these past days, all of which have been without the intention of interfering with good performance of my national team, the truth is that my colleague Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me," the athlete wrote, adding, "For this: I deeply regret what occurred. I apologize to Giorgio Chiellini and the entire football family. [And] I vow to the public that there will never again be another incident like [this]."
According to Fox Sports, the pro at first told FIFA's disciplinary panel that he did not deliberately bite the defender. "In no way it happened how you have described, as a bite or intent to bite," the Uruguay striker wrote in a letter dated June 25. "After the impact…I lost my balance, making my body unstable and falling on top of my opponent…At that moment I hit my face against the player leaving a small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth," Suarez said.
As previously reported, the panel ultimately decided to suspend him. "Such behavior 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," FIFA disciplinary committee chairman Claudio Sulser said in a statement.
