London: Laurent Koscielny has joined the growing list of people within the game criticising the conduct of Luis Suarez, branding the striker a “cheat” in a withering assessment that is certain to infuriate Liverpool.
Koscielny, the Arsenal defender, has claimed Suarez is his least favourite opponent because of the on-field behaviour that has again come under recent scrutiny and claims he goes to ground far too easily.
Suarez was described as “embarrassing” by Stoke manager Tony Pulis after the Uruguay international reignited the row over diving nine days ago, appearing to fall over in the penalty area without being touched during the 0-0 draw between the teams at Anfield. Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce then waded into the debate by arguing that players who dive should be punished retrospectively and that simulation was a cancer in the game. Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, launched an impassioned defence of the forward last week and claimed he had been unfairly targeted but Koscielny — who appeared as a substitute when Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield last month — has admitted he would like to kick Suarez for the play-acting that has created so much controversy. Koscielny told L’Equipe: “Who is the forward I hate to face? Suarez. He is tiresome to defend against. He cheats. He pulls your shirt, giving small blows. You always want to give him a kick but you have to be careful not to be red-carded. For example, on September 2 against Liverpool, it was the case with Luis Suarez.
“He is a player who likes to dive as soon as there is contact. During a challenge we jostled a bit with each other and he fell. He started to talk to me in English, to say it was a penalty.”
Liverpool have constantly defended Suarez, despite a string of high-profile incidents, and team-mates Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson both claimed last month that referees were refusing to award penalties because of his reputation.
Suarez is due to face Bolivia in a World Cup 2014 qualifier and will not return to England until later this week.
The Uruguayan Football Association is believed to have contacted Fifa to demand an apology after Boyce’s comments, though Suarez said his conscience was clean.
