Kenny Dalglish thinks Liverpool will support Luis Suarez despite lengthy ban

In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Kenny Dalglish said he expects Liverpool to support Luis Suarez in light of his latest controversy.

As punishment for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, FIFA handed the Uruguayan striker a nine-match intentional suspension, while also banning him from playing any professional football for four months.

The Liverpool star will not be available for selection until late October, meaning he’ll miss 13 games in all. Furthermore, the player is banned from taking part in numerous football activities, such as training with any professional team, entering a stadium and taking part in commercial activities – such as promoting footballing merchandise.

This will be the second successive season in which Suarez has missed the opening set of fixtures, having served a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea right-back Branislav Ivanovi? in the 2012/13 Premier League campaign.

Notwithstanding the calls for Liverpool to cash in on their troubled genius, Dalglish believes his former club will, once again, back the 27-year-old.

“I know that lots of people are jumping up and down and saying that Liverpool should disown Luis Suarez.

“Others are saying that the striker has become more trouble than he is worth, too. But you don’t just turn your back on someone because he has done something wrong.

“I think you will find that Liverpool will not turn their back on Suarez, whatever the ban FIFA have decided he must serve.”

In addition, The 63-year-old Glaswegian questioned why the Premier League’s top scorer has to sit out domestic games next season when he committed the infraction while on international duty.

“When he was punished by the FA for the biting incident with Ivanovic and banned from domestic games, he was still allowed to play for his national team,” he added.

“It seems a bit strange, then, that when he is banned for something he did with his national team, his club has to suffer, too.”