We got to see the human side of professional football on Friday afternoon, as Luis Suarez struggled to hold back the tears when describing a meeting with a young fan.
Phenylketonuria (commonly known as PKU) is an inherited disorder that increases the levels of a substance called phenylalanine in the blood, and affects metabolism, and the breaking down of proteins in particular. Luis Suarez was speaking at a PKU awareness event, and he admitted that although he had only learned about the disease earlier that day, he had a very moving meeting with a young fan.
In fact, a young PKU sufferer gave his shirt to Luis Suarez, which prompted the Barca star to declare that he would dedicate his next goal to his new friend. He then received a round of applause from all in attendance as he began to choke up.
Luis Suarez gets emotional after promising to score for a young PKU sufferer. Respect ?? pic.twitter.com/1eJ1ktsoMs
— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) April 22, 2016
You've got to respect that.
He's an emotional man, Luis Suarez, as can clearly be seen by the way he plays the game, and while those emotions often get him into trouble, this is a rare occasion that he has been given a lot of respect in the Spanish media in particular.
You can watch the interview in more detail below although it won't be worth it if you can't speak Spanish, and for more information on PKU you can read about it on HSE.ie
