Luis Suarez banned for nine matches as Inter Miami spitting row escalates
Inter Miami striker Luis Suarez has been suspended for three additional matches after spitting at Seattle Sounders’ head of security.
Liverpool and Barcelona legend Suarez has faced sanctions for a series of oral offences throughout his career and the latest transgression has been roundly condemned by the football authorities in North America.
The 38-year-old was the headline act as an altercation between Miami and Seattle turned very ugly indeed after the final of the Leagues Cup, in which Major League Soccer teams and Mexican Liga MX teams slug it out for a CONCACAF Champions Cup place.
2025 was the fifth year of the Leagues Cup and produced an all-MLS final between Lionel Messi’s Herons and their league rivals from the Pacific Northwest.
The Sounders cruised to a 3-0 victory on home turf in front of more than 69,000 fans but their celebrations were interrupted by a number of incidents involving Seattle midfielder Obed Vargas, who found himself in a Suarez headlock and on the end of an apparent punch from Sergio Busquets.
Suarez was quickly hit with a six-match Leagues Cup ban after he was caught stepping on the foot of Sounders security chief Gene Ramirez, apparently holding him in place in order to spit in his face.
The Inter Miami striker has now been given an additional three-match ban by Major League Soccer, a suspension that will include Miami’s next meeting with their rave green foes from Washington State.
There was no additional MLS punishment for Busquets, who will serve a two-match ban in the League Cup but the end of his contract and constant speculation about his retirement could render that sanction futile.
Suarez’s mouth has got him in trouble several times in his football career. He was banned for seven matches for biting an opponent as an Ajax player in 2010 and for ten matches after biting Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League game between Liverpool and Chelsea in 2013.
A third offence at the 2014 World Cup led to a four-month ban and a suspension for nine international matches.
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Another player with a reputation for getting overly physical with opponents is former Columbus Crew San Jose Earthquakes striker Steven Lenhart, who was loved by his teammates and remains so among people who know him off the pitch but frequently overstepped the mark.
Now remarkably the team psychologist for the Sounders, he was involved in the fracas after the Leagues Cup final. Lenhart appeared to be in the thick of the brawl throwing punches and was initially banned for five Leagues Cup matches.
Major League Soccer has added to his punishment by ‘revoking his credential’ for the remainder of the MLS season and the post-season play-offs.
Lenhart is expected to return to the sidelines from the start of the next MLS season in the spring and serve his Leagues Cup ban but Suarez, like Busquets, will be out of contract at the end of the current campaign.
