Brendan Rodgers to Act on Suarez Admission of Diving

Liverpool’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez is in further trouble after admitting ‘diving’ in an EPL match.

In an interview with Fox Sports Argentina, he admitted trying to win a penalty in a match with Stoke City.

City manager Tony Pulis had called him out after the game, advocating that Suarez should be banned for his diving antics.

“A three-game ban would stop Suarez from “falling over,” he had told media after the match.

Now that Suarez has somewhat unwisely admitted it in the South American media, his own manager Brendan Rodgers is livid and has vowed to take action.

“I think it’s wrong. It’s unacceptable. I’ve spoken to Luis and it will be dealt with internally. Diving is not something we advocate. Our ethics are correct,” he told English media.

Rodgers was not always so forthright, defending Suarez and attacking the ‘vilification’ of his striker, after the Stoke match.

“I believe some people need to develop a sense of perspective and I also believe in this moment the vilification of Luis is both wrong and unfair.”

However the player’s admission of the incident has forced his boss into a somewhat humiliating reversal of his tone.

Pulis advocated very strong action from the authorities at the time.

“I think if you do that – if you give them three, four or five games or whatever – then it will take it out of the game.

With simulation, I think if a player is found blatantly diving to gain an advantage, whether it is a penalty or conning a referee into giving a decision, they should be dealt with very severely. What you would find is that it would soon stop, and that is what we all want, because it is, on a lot of occasions, cheating.”

It is unlikely that Rodgers will take action that hampers Suarez’s availability to play but the football authorities may not be satisfied that the matter is over.

Suarez is not the first player to admit to cheating well after the game.

At a football conference in London last year, England international Michael Owen admitted to diving to win penalties in two key World Cup games against Argentina in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups.

Owen ironically now plays for Stoke City.