Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini has revealed his admiration for Barcelona striker Luis Suarez, despite the Uruguayan's infamous bite on the Italian at the 2014 World Cup.
Suarez, then a Liverpool player, was banned for nine international matches after biting Chiellini in Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy in Natal, Brazil, with the incident initially going unpunished during the match.
The South American was also unable to take part in any football-related activity for four months, meaning he had to wait until late October for his debut after signing for Barca that summer.
"I admire his malice," Chiellini wrote in his autobiography in quotes reproduced by AS. "If he lost it, he would become a normal striker.
"On the pitch, I'm a big son of a b***h and I'm proud of it: malice is part of football. He went too far with the bite, but that was his strategy in combat and if I can say so, it's also mine.
"He and I are similar and I like to come up against strikers like that."
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