Argentina football legend and Dubai Sports Council Ambassador Diego Maradona has thrown his support behind Luis Suarez with a messaged T-Shirt following the Uruguay striker's four month ban.
Suarez was handed the lengthy punishment by FIFA after being found guilty of biting defender Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 victory over Italy in the World Cup Group D encounter on Tuesday.
While the vast majority of the reaction to the ban has been in favour of FIFA's decision, Maradona has lambasted football's governing body for the severity of the ban.
"Why do they not send [Suarez] to Guantanamo?" the former World Cup winner said. "Why? Who did he kill? This is football, this is just a scratch. It is an unfair punishment, an incredible mafia thing."
Maradona, who is based here in the UAE for his role as a Global Ambassador with the Dubai Sports Council, believes Suarez's act is not as bad as numerous unpunished instances that have already taken place at this summer's World Cup.
"Neymar elbowed an opponent [against Croatia in Brazil's opening World Cup 2014 game], which [should have been] a straight red card and nobody said anything," he said. "Two Cameroon players fought on the pitch. The whole world saw it and nobody said anything.
"They are acting the moralist with Suarez, when they gave [Zinedine] Zidane the Ballon d'Or after the final against Italy [when he headbutted Marco Materazzi. Zidane actually finished runner-up]."
Maradona backed up his words of support for Suarez with actions when he went on TV wearing a T-shirt that read "Luisito estamos con vos" translated to "Luisito we are with you."
