BARCELONA: Luis Suarez is ready to put his biting days behind him. The Barcelona striker was officially presented to fans on Tuesday at an event delayed for more than five weeks because of his suspension for biting an opponent at the World Cup.

Suarez said he has received professional help after receiving a four-month ban for biting an opponent for the third time in his career when he clashed with Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in Brazil.

The Uruguayan featured for the first time for Barca when he came on for the last 15 minutes of Monday’s 6-0 friendly victory over Mexican side Leon but will not be able to play a competitive game for Barca until late October after his appeal against the ban was thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.

“I prefer not to look backwards,” the former Liverpool forward said as he was presented to the media at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

“I didn’t want to do anything and I was very depressed. I decided that all I could do was accept reality and say sorry. I have apologised to people in Uruguay for what happened and I am now looking ahead.”

Suarez refused to go into details about what he considered was at the root of his violent behaviour. He called it a “private” issue that he was treating with the “appropriate professionals”.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014