Uruguay captain defends Suarez over biting claims

Rio de Janeiro, June 26 (IANS) Uruguay captain Diego Lugano Wednesday hit out at the world's media for their reaction to Luis Suarez's latest biting furore.

Suarez is currently under investigation by football's governing body FIFA for allegedly biting Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 victory Italy Tuesday, a result that secured the Celeste's place in the World Cup round of 16, reports Xinhua.

"What incident? The footage doesn't show anything, you can speculate from it but it's nothing important," Lugano said during a press conference.

"It appears that the press keep coming back to this situation, I can't find any other explanation, but I am happy with yesterday's win."

Suarez is no stranger to biting controversies.

In 2010 he received a seven-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax.

Last year he was handed a 10-match sentence for the same offence against Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic while representing Liverpool.

Earlier Wednesday, FIFA released a statement confirming it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the 27-year-old.

Uruguay's victory over Italy in Natal set up a last-16 clash against Colombia at Rio's Maracana stadium Saturday.