Luis Suarez bite: Suarez will not apologise for alleged bite on Giorgio Chiellini even if Fifa ban him, with Uruguay set to fight any World Cup suspension

Team's lawyer Alejandro Balbi and president Wilmar Valdez have defended Suarez with a decision expected later today

Suarez could face a two-year ban for the incident (PA)

Luis Suarez will fight any ban he receives for his alleged bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini as the Uruguay striker awaits the verdict from Fifa, following his lawyer branding the incident to the World Cup officials as “casual play”.

Alejandro Balbi, a board member of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), claimed that Suarez actually came off with worse injuries than his opponent, with the 27-year-old sporting a black eye following the 1-0 victory over Italy. Balbi also claimed that Suarez was a victim of a conspiracy created by English, Italian and Brazilian media in an effort to rid the World Cup of the striker after he helped knock out the former two nations in Group D.

UPDATE: Luis Suarez banned for nine matches

Suarez tried to bite Chiellini last year

AUF President Wilmar Valdez added that in his opinion there was not enough evidence to discipline the country’s hero, who has been heavily defended by his compatriots with the latest call of support coming from President Jose Mujica, who said “I didn’t see him bite anyone”.

Fifa’s disciplinary committee confirmed that they will announce Suarez’s fate on Thursday ahead of Uruguay’s second round encounter with Colombia on Saturday night.

However, despite the incident standing as the third time Suarez has been accused of biting another player, it is understood that he will not apologise for his actions, and will instead rely on Balbi and Valdez to fight his case in an effort to avoid a ban and salvage his World Cup campaign.

“We don’t have any doubts that this has happened because it’s Suárez and secondly because Italy was eliminated,” Balbi told Uruguayan radio station Sport 890. “There’s a lot of pressure from England and Italy. We’re polishing off a defence argument.”

Chiellini claims he has been bitten by Suarez, who is holding his teeth in pain

Suarez’s previous bans will be taken into account when the committee meets again today, having picked up a seven-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal and a 10-match ban for replicating the offence on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last year.

Disciplinary committee member Martin Hong said: “It’s our duty to see justice done.”

But as of last night, Fifa were unable to confirm that any appeal against a potential ban would allow the controversial striker to feature in Saturday’s encounter. A Uruguayan side with Suarez is a much greater threat than one without him, given that they put in a woeful display in the 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica without their talisman in their opening match of the World Cup. Suarez would make his return from knee surgery in the following match, and score a double to eliminate England from this year’s tournament.

Fifa are also being tasked with making their biggest World Cup disciplinary decision in two decades, given the largest ban they have ever handed out at the famous tournament is the eight-match suspension given to Italy’s Mauro Tassotti for breaking the nose of Spain’s Luis Enrique in 1994.

Given that Suarez has already been suspended for seven and 10 games respectively, the expectation is that he will receive the largest ban in World Cup history.