This video is from Simon Hattenstone's interview with Luis Suarez, which appeared in full in the Guardian today. Suarez's new autobiography, Crossing The Line, is the focus of the exchange.
The video gives a rare insight into Suárez's devotion to his wife and children - a topic on which many footballers would not be so open.
On biting Giorgio Chiellini, Suárez said:
I felt disappointed in myself, for my wife, my children, and particularly for all the Uruguayan people, and when something like that happens, the most important thing is to accept what you’ve done wrong and to apologise. When you feel you’ve done something wrong, you should apologise for it.
He apologised to Chiellini via Twitter shortly after the incident. When asked about his racial abuse of Patrice Evra, Suarez said that he can accept being criticised for diving, but he cannot accept being called a racist. He said:
I know I was wrong with the biting and the diving, but I was accused of racism without any proof. There were lots of cameras, but no evidence. It hurts me the most that it was my word against theirs.
Every culture has its way of expressing itself, and that’s a word people in Uruguay use all the time, whether somebody’s black or not black. It gets used a lot without those connotations, and that’s why it is completely different from how it is expressed in England, no?
He maintained that he did not use the word as an insult at all, racial or otherwise. He continued:
No, not at any time. I just said, ‘Why, negro?’ and it was just like asking ‘Why?’ These are things that footballers say, that happen all the time.
It has to be said that despite his obvious irritation at being asked probing questions about his biting and racism allegations, the Uruguayan remained absolutely composed and was courteous to his interviewer throughout, including when Hattenstone astonishingly continued to do keepy-uppies between Suarez and the camera when the player was articulating his thoughts on the Evra incident.
However, the interview is eventually cut short by Suárez and his minders after one tough question too many.
They are asking me again about the biting. They have asked me about the bite 38,000 times. Never again, never again, I swear never again, this is the last time.
To be fair to Hattenstone, the questions may have been very much to the point, but he was entitled to ask them - though he could have done with booting the ball away at the start of the piece rather than doing so in frustration at the end.
As one would expect, the full interview reveals much more than the video clip and can be enjoyed here.
