Luis Suarez dubbed 'the devil' for Ghana handball but says: 'I didn't miss the penalty'
Uruguay's Luis Suarez has refused to apologise for his handball against Ghana in 2010 ahead of Friday's rematch with Black Stars
Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has refused apologise to Ghana for his controversial handball in the teams' World Cup quarter-final in 2010.
Suarez was sent off for a clear handball on the goal line right at the end of extra time and celebrated wildly on the sidelines after Asamoah Gyan missed the subsequent penalty.
Uruguay went on to win the shootout and stopped Ghana from becoming the first African team to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals.
On Friday, the two teams meet for the first time since their highly charged meeting in South Africa and Suarez spoke to the media ahead of the match.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona striker was dubbed 'the devil himself' by a Ghanaian journalist, who said people in the west African nation are keen to 'retire him' on Friday.
But Suarez was unrepentant. "I don’t apologise about that," he said. "The Ghana player missed a penalty, not me. Maybe I could apologise if I made a tackle and injured a player.
"But in this situation I took the red card and the referee gave a penalty. It is not my fault because I didn’t miss the penalty.
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"The player who missed the penalty, he said he would do the same [as I did]. It is not my responsibility to shoot the penalty."
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Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.