Uruguay captain Diego Lugano rubbishes Luis Suarez biting incident

Bite or collision?

Rio de Janeiro, June 26 (IANS): Uruguay captain Diego Lugano Wednesday hit out at the world's media for their reaction to Luis Suarez's latest biting furore.

Suarez is currently under investigation by football's governing body FIFA for allegedly biting Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 victory Italy Tuesday, a result that secured the Celeste's place in the World Cup round of 16, reports Xinhua.

"The images do not show anything, just a collision between two players," the Uruguay captain said. "Nothing important.

"The British media persecutes Suarez; everyone knows that. That sells a lot in England; if not, you wouldn't be here.

"I don't get why there's a British journalist here talking about Suarez. It seems this is a story the media loves. There is no other explanation."

"I've seen a lot of violent scenes in this World Cup. Elbows in the nose, do you remember? Kicks in the tibia and the knee.

"That's dangerous, that's violence. Fights between team-mates. And I never heard anything about that. I don't know if you journalists want to make justice or if you want to take some sportive advantage.

"I can't understand why a situation so trivial, that doesn't bring consequences to anyone, has so many repercussions."

Suarez is no stranger to biting controversies.

In 2010 he received a seven-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax.

Last year he was handed a 10-match sentence for the same offence against Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic while representing Liverpool.

Earlier Wednesday, FIFA released a statement confirming it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the 27-year-old.

Uruguay's victory over Italy in Natal set up a last-16 clash against Colombia at Rio's Maracana stadium Saturday.