"I lost balance and hit my face against Chiellini" - Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez has claimed that he did not deliberately bite Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

The Uruguayan striker claimed to FIFA’s disciplinary panel that he lost balance and accidentally hit his face against the Italian player.

Suarez wrote in the defence he submitted to Fifa that “in no way [did] it happen how you have described, as a bite or intent to bite.”

“After the impact … I lost my balance, making my body unstable and falling on top of my opponent,” Suarez continued.

“At that moment I hit my face against the player leaving a small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth.”

However, the seven-man FIFA panel believed that the bite was “deliberate, intentional and without provocation” and they banned the striker for nine Uruguay matches and for four months from all football.