Luis Suarez trained with his Barcelona teammates for the first time Friday and then admitted he was still paying for his "mistake" in biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
After getting the green light from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Uruguayan striker was the centre of attention as he took part in his first training session with the Catalan club.
Interviewed afterwards wearing a Barcelona shirt, he told the club website: “I’m paying for a mistake I made and one I have apologised for, but I have to forget about all this. I am only thinking about the future, which is at FC Barcelona, the club who I dreamed of playing for.”
After the uncertainty of the past weeks, Suarez said: “I am really happy to feel like a footballer again and to be with my teammates. I just couldn’t wait to get started.”
Suarez took an active part in the session with the main group under the watchful eye of coach Luis Enrique.
On Thursday, the CAS upheld Suarez’s four-month ban from playing in competitive games as well as his nine-match international suspension, but it did allow him to train and play in unofficial matches.
That means he could make his debut against Mexican club Leon in the Gamper Trophy, the traditional curtain-raiser to the season at the Camp Nou on Monday ahead of the start of the new Spanish Primera Liga next weekend.
Suarez has reportedly been training on his own in an unknown location in Catalonia since completing his £75 million (Dh459.9m) move to the Camp Nou from Liverpool last month. He will be available to play in competitive matches from October 25, meaning his official debut could come in the first clasico of the campaign, the match against Real Madrid.
Suarez has never explained his propensity to bite opponents.
He earned a 10-game ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in 2013 after being sidelined for seven matches with Dutch club Ajax in 2010 for the same offence against PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal.
Suarez will be presented to the Barca fans on Monday before the Joan Gamper Trophy match and, on Tuesday he will attend a media conference.
In Friday’s training session, as well as Suarez, Brazilian Neymar completed the full session, even though he has not received a medical all clear after he fractured a vertebrae in his lower back when he was tackled during the World Cup quarter-final against Colombia.
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