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Topics: Ghana, Uruguay, Football World Cup, Luis Suarez
Josh Lawless
Topics: Ghana, Uruguay, Football World Cup, Luis Suarez
Uruguay star Luis Suarez was verbally attacked by journalists from Ghana in his press conference over his controversial 2010 handball.
Uruguay and Ghana meet in a crunch World Cup Group H clash on Friday and Suarez took part in the mandatory presser at the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha.
The meeting is a rematch of one of the most dramatic World Cup games in recent history, where Suarez was the ultimate pantomime villain.
The World Cup quarter-final in South Africa was poised at 1-1 in the last minute of extra time when Suarez handled the ball on the line to stop a certain goal.
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He was sent off but Asamoah Gyan's spot-kick smacked the crossbar and Suarez celebrated wildly as he walked down the tunnel.
Uruguay went on to win on penalties and 12 years on, Suarez is still enemy number one for the Black Stars and was called "the devil himself".
In the presser, one journalist told the former Liverpool and Barcelona star: "Some Ghana fans feel you are the devil himself. They are looking forward to retiring you."
Suarez has had to apologise over many horrid things he has done in his career, from biting to being found guilty of racial abuse, but he refused to say sorry about the handball.
“I don’t apologise about that,” Suarez responded.
“I take the handball, but the Ghana player missed a penalty, not me. Maybe I apologise if I injure a player but in this situation, I take a red card, the ref says penalty. It’s not my fault.”
Uruguay manager Diego Alonso was asked if he would be willing to accept Suarez replicating his actions but was quick to play down any talk of it happening again.
“I don't think we will experience a similar situation to that one. Let’s just focus on playing a full game. If we do this we have a good chance of winning the three points.
“I don’t know if Ghana think this is revenge or not. We know it’s a key game to qualify, that’s all that matters to us. We have to respect Ghana, we always do that.”
As time has gone on more and more fans have decided that it was actually a selfless act where Suarez took one for the team.
However, Gyan, who missed the penalty, says Suarez is very much hated amongst Ghanaians and they see him as a "cheat".
"Back home, everybody who watched the game, they dislike Suarez," Gyan said, as per the Daily Mail.
"He is a hero in Uruguay although people in Ghana see him as a cheat. People do hate him."
Suarez has played just 81 mins in what is set to be his final World Cup tournament, starting the opener but coming on as a substitute in the 2-0 defeat to Portugal.
Uruguay are currently at the bottom of the group with just point and need to beat Ghana to progress to the knockout stages.
Ghana will move onto six points and reach the round of 16 with a victory at Al Janoub Stadium.