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Sanctioned, Suarez Back Home in Uruguay


Fans of Uruguay's national soccer team await the arrival of Uruguay player Luis Suarez at Carrasco International Airport in the outskirts of Montevideo, Uruguay, June 26, 2014.
Fans of Uruguay's national soccer team await the arrival of Uruguay player Luis Suarez at Carrasco International Airport in the outskirts of Montevideo, Uruguay, June 26, 2014.

Luis Suarez flew home to Uruguay on Friday after being thrown out of the World Cup in Brazil and banned from soccer for four months for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in a Group D match earlier this week.

The Liverpool striker was met by President Jose Mujica when he landed at a military base next to Uruguay's main airport before dawn, an air force spokesman said.

Uruguay fan shows a sign in solidarity with player Luis Suarez while waiting for his arrival outside Montevideo's Carrasco international airport, June 26, 2014.
Uruguay fan shows a sign in solidarity with player Luis Suarez while waiting for his arrival outside Montevideo's Carrasco international airport, June 26, 2014.

Mujica had joined hundreds of fans who gathered at the airport on Thursday night to show their support for Suarez but they left after a few hours when it became clear he had not yet left Brazil.

After his arrival on Friday, Suarez, his wife and other family members were driven to a home he has in the small coastal town of Solymar.

Soccer's world governing body FIFA ruled on Thursday that the 27-year-old
star striker cannot play in Uruguay's next nine competitive matches and suspended him from all soccer-related activity for four months.

The punishment immediately ended his involvement in the World Cup
in Brazil, with Uruguay due to face Colombia in a round of 16 tie on Saturday.

"He is totally distraught. He never thought the punishment would
be so severe,'' said Alejandro Balbi, a member of the Uruguayan Football Association's board and Suarez's lawyer.

Italy's Giorgio Chiellini accuses Uruguay's Luis Suarez of biting him during their match at the Dunas arena in Natal, June 24, 2014.
Italy's Giorgio Chiellini accuses Uruguay's Luis Suarez of biting him during their match at the Dunas arena in Natal, June 24, 2014.

FIFA ruled that Suarez bit defender Chiellini during Uruguay's final group match on Tuesday, as his side knocked Italy out of the tournament with a 1-0 victory.

Suarez's ban is the longest ever imposed at a World Cup. It means he is unlikely to appear in competitive matches for his country until 2016 and he will also miss the first two months of the Premier League season in England.

Although it was the third time Suarez has been banned for biting, his team mates and most Uruguayans jumped to defend him, believing the punishment was excessive.

"There are different standards. That's what infuriates and hurts us most,'' Mujica said on Thursday night in an appearance on a TV show hosted by former Argentine star Diego Maradona, who also said FIFA had gone too far and was treating Suarez like a criminal.

Suarez had missed Uruguay's opening match of the tournament, a 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica, as he recovered from knee surgery but returned to score both goals in the side's 2-1 victory over England.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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