Suarez: Team GB fans lack respect
August 2, 2012
By ESPN staff
Luis Suarez has accused Team GB supporters of showing a "lack of respect" following Uruguay's 1-0 loss in their London 2012 Olympics clash at Millennium Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Suarez was repeatedly booed throughout the match, while jeers from the crowd interrupted the playing of the Uruguay national anthem when the Liverpool striker was shown on the big screen.
Uruguay were eliminated following the defeat, and Suarez claimed the attention he received from the fans is simply because they fear the impact he can have on a match.
"I think they jeer me and they boo me because they must be scared of facing a player like me," said Suarez. "They fear me, but that doesn't affect me. I'm just hurt because we lost and we are going home.
"I can take the abuse ... but I think it was a total lack of respect from the crowd to boo when we were trying to sing our national anthem. I think those things should not happen."
Suarez has encountered jeers since being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra during a Premier League match at Anfield last October. He re-opened the row last month by claiming his eight-match ban was handed down because of United's "political power".
However, Suarez's club and country team-mate Sebastian Coates says the crowd reactions toward the striker have now "gone too far".
"I'm tired of this situation with Luis," Coates said. "I think it has gone too far and I don't like to see him treated like this.
"I know the kind of person he is and I think the abuse he gets is very unfair. He knows all his team-mates and a whole country are fully behind him and I think fans over here should leave him alone."
August 2, 2012
By ESPN staff
Luis Suarez has accused Team GB supporters of showing a "lack of respect" following Uruguay's 1-0 loss in their London 2012 Olympics clash at Millennium Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Suarez was repeatedly booed throughout the match, while jeers from the crowd interrupted the playing of the Uruguay national anthem when the Liverpool striker was shown on the big screen.
Uruguay were eliminated following the defeat, and Suarez claimed the attention he received from the fans is simply because they fear the impact he can have on a match.
"I think they jeer me and they boo me because they must be scared of facing a player like me," said Suarez. "They fear me, but that doesn't affect me. I'm just hurt because we lost and we are going home.
"I can take the abuse ... but I think it was a total lack of respect from the crowd to boo when we were trying to sing our national anthem. I think those things should not happen."
Suarez has encountered jeers since being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra during a Premier League match at Anfield last October. He re-opened the row last month by claiming his eight-match ban was handed down because of United's "political power".
However, Suarez's club and country team-mate Sebastian Coates says the crowd reactions toward the striker have now "gone too far".
"I'm tired of this situation with Luis," Coates said. "I think it has gone too far and I don't like to see him treated like this.
"I know the kind of person he is and I think the abuse he gets is very unfair. He knows all his team-mates and a whole country are fully behind him and I think fans over here should leave him alone."
