Luis Suarez: he works, he scores, he bites, he dives, he derides and he uses his hands. The Premier League's second-leading scorer and the most polarizing figure in English soccer was at it again this weekend, making his mark all over Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Chelsea (and on Chelsea defender BranislavIvanovic's arm).
The Uruguayan striker had a day to remember Sunday afternoon at Anfield. He assisted one goal, received a handball on a Chelsea corner kick leading to Chelsea's second goal, was incredibly fortunate to not receive a red card for his incident with Ivanovic's arm and then went on to score the game tying goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
But what everyone will remember from this game is not his match-winning ability, his incredible work rate or his overall great play on the field. No, this game will be remembered for Suarez's moment of madness, in which he very literally bit Ivanovic's arm. The assault was seemingly unprovoked, and completely inexplicable from the man who is already disliked in many circles for his tendency to dive, and for several other incidents over the past few seasons.
Who could forget his now infamous handball against Ghana in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in which Suarez received a red card for blocking a sure goal from going into the net by purposefully using his hands. Ghana missed the ensuing penalty kick, and the public outrage ensued, with many saying that Suarez "cheated the game" with his intentional handball.
Or who could forget Suarez's eight-match ban and ?40,000 fine a season ago after being convicted of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.
Or perhaps less memorably, his incident while playing for Dutch club Ajax in 2010, when Suarez bit PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal during an altercation at the end of the match, resulting in a seven-game ban.
So, this past weekend's incident should not come as much of a surprise to those following Luis Suarez's career. He is a consistent offender and clearly does not have enough respect for the game. What is incredibly surprising is that no one has stepped in to prevent these events from recurring, especially within his club Liverpool or his coach Brendan Rodgers.
Liverpool FC is arguably the most storied club in English soccer, and for them to have allowed Suarez to tarnish their colors multiple times is shocking. But after the most recent incident, club chairman Ian Ayre made clear that they are going to start working with Suarez.
"I think he felt like he let a lot of people down yesterday," he said. "We'll work with Luis - Brendan particularly - on this side of his character in his game. Hopefully that puts the matter to rest from our point of view."
My question is, why did it take another appalling incident to "work with Luis"? Clearly, he has needed work since the moment he put on the Liverpool red.
Sure, he has been the club's best and most exciting player since arriving in 2010, but not one of his 38 goals for Liverpool is as memorable as the incidents that have brought him fines and bans.
This has to be Luis Suarez's last chance with Liverpool. Since a multiple-match ban is likely for biting Ivanovic, Suarez will probably not feature in any more games for Liverpool this season. Brendan Rodgers will thus have the entire offseason to work with his mercurial striker to improve his maturity, and hopefully turn him into the centerpiece around which Liverpool will want to build for the next five years.
If not, Suarez will be forced to take his world class talents elsewhere, because while every club wants a striker of his quality, there aren't many who want one who dives, who bites and who cheats.
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Jason Schneiderman is a sophomore majoring in quantitative economics and computer science. He can be reached at Jason.Schneiderman@tufts.edu.
