Almost a year and a half on from one of the lowest moments in the club’s history,  Liverpool are back where they started with Luis Suarez.

We did, in all honesty, think we had seen the worst of Liverpool’s Uruguayan striker. His racial  comments to Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October 2011 plunged his club in to a crisis from which it struggled to recover.

Yesterday, we discovered we were wrong. Suarez, it transpired, had more depravity in his locker and this morning Branislav Ivanovic wears the scars on his right bicep to prove it.

Scroll down to see a video of the biting incident

At the death: Luis Suarez headed in a late equaliser to rescue a point for Liverpool against Chelsea

Delight: Suarez runs off in celebration after a dramatic late strike at Anfield

Hungry? Suarez appeared to bite Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic during the second half

Crazy: The ball was still in play when Suarez turned his attention to Ivanovic's arm

 

Stunned: Ivanovic gestures towards referee Kevin Friend after the incident

MATCH FACTS

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Jose Enrique, Gerrard, Lucas, Downing (Shelvey 80), Henderson, Coutinho (Sturridge 46), Suarez.

Subs Not Used: Jones, Assaidi, Coates, Coady, Skrtel.

Booked: Henderson, Lucas, Suarez, Carragher, Shelvey.

Goals: Sturridge 52, Suarez 90.

Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Luiz, Bertrand, Ramires, Mikel, Mata (Lampard 90), Oscar (Moses 83), Hazard (Benayoun 78), Torres.

Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Ferreira, Terry, Ba.

Booked: Torres, Azpilicueta.

Goals: Oscar 26, Hazard (pen) 57.

Att: 45,009.

Ref: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).

It was clear something was very wrong within a second or so of Suarez tussling with the Chelsea defender in front of the Kop  midway through the second half. Immediately, the Serbian proffered his arm to referee Kevin Friend while making a clear ‘biting’ motion. Was he really suggesting Suarez had bitten him? Soon after, replays revealed the grisly truth, a truth from which Suarez can make no attempt to run this time.
In the Evra case, Suarez denied abusing his opponent. Liverpool, wisely or otherwise, defended him with all the vigour they could  muster. It was, after all, a case of one man’s word against another.

In this instance, the evidence is clear, a high-definition horror show, and although manager Brendan Rodgers endeavoured not to be drawn yesterday, he and the club’s owners in America face a decision.

Rodgers talked in terms of the club’s reputation last night.

Suarez has already chewed that up and spat it out, but if Liverpool are serious about limiting the damage they may wish to look at the way Manchester United dealt with Eric Cantona after his assault on a fan at Crystal Palace in 1995.

They pre-empted the FA by suspending him immediately. Almost 20 years on, it still looks a reasonable tactic.

Certainly in Boston the Liverpool owners will look upon this episode darkly. John W Henry was scandalized by the way his club’s reputation suffered globally last season and, as he is now dealing with the same culprit, Suarez would be  correct to worry about his future.On TV yesterday, Graeme Souness — a great icon of the club —  spoke eloquently and passionately.  Souness understands Liverpool as well as anybody and his clear  concern is understandable.

 

Opener: Oscar headed Chelsea into the lead midway through the first half at Anfield

 

For all his gifts, Suarez is now in danger of dragging his employers’ reputation in the same direction as his own. In terms of his football, Suarez was exemplary. He often is, and the fact he created Liverpool’s first equaliser and scored the  second with the game’s penultimate kick deepened the feeling of dismay that here we have a footballer so destructively flawed.

Rodgers looked a little deflated. His team had done well to grab a point but nobody really wanted to talk about that. Second best before half-time, Liverpool trailed by a goal. Replays failed to explain who was supposed to be marking Oscar at a 27th-minute corner but nobody got close enough and his header proved too powerful for goalkeeper Pepe Reina at the near post.

Twice at the end of the half,  Suarez came close. On both occasions Petr Cech proved equal. After the break, though, Liverpool did break sweat. The introduction of Daniel Sturridge brought directness and twice within the first two minutes they came close as Steven Gerrard was denied by Cech’s boot and Sturridge by a post.

In the 52nd minute, Liverpool did score. Some goal it was, too, as Stewart Downing diverted a Glen Johnson pass into Suarez and the 26-year-old’s sumptuous first-time chip allowed Sturridge to side-foot in from seven yards without breaking stride.

Lead: The Brazilian was unmarked from a corner at the Kop end and steered his header past Pepe Reina

Home: Rafa Benitez made his Anfield return

 

Chelsea were to come again as a Suarez handball gave them a penalty converted by the impressive Eden Hazard three minutes later, and the game did get a little fractious.

Jamie Carragher became embroiled in a battle with former team-mate Fernando Torres while Sturridge seemed to leave a foot in on Ryan Bertrand.

The subsequent stoppage contributed to the six-and-a-half minutes of added time that incensed Chelsea’s boss Rafa Benitez. Right at the end, Suarez moved on to a Sturridge cross and his header found the top corner off Cech’s wrist. A day of drama now had everything but, inevitably, only part of the game will form this week’s  narrative.

On Sunday morning a newspaper interview with Suarez contained an admission that he would not expect people to vote for him in this season’s PFA and football writers’ awards.

Here at Anfield was another reason why his self-analysis may have been spot on.

Certainly an unpalatable possibility now looms.

The votes for the PFA award are in and Suarez is short-listed. If he has won, the players’ union face the embarrassing prospect of handing him his award at their gala dinner in London this Sunday.

PFA chief executive Gordon  Taylor may have some thinking to do this morning. His problems, though, pale when compared to those of Liverpool.

Impact: Daniel Sturridge came off the bench to equalise for Liverpool early in the second half

 

 

Penalty: Chelsea were awarded a spot kick when Luis Suarez handled the ball from a corner

Calm: Eden Hazard converted the penalty to put Chelsea back ahead at Anfield

 

Last laugh: Suarez denied Chelsea a win right at the death when he headed in Sturridge's cross

 

Thank you: Liverpool fans sent a message to former manager Benitez

Club: Liverpool fans unveiled a banner which had Benitez's head alongside some of their former managers

Too good: A Liverpool fan holds up a banner aimed at Chelsea supporters

Gesture: Benitez acknowledges the reception from the Liverpool faithful

Reunion: Fernando Torres shakes hands with his former Liverpool team-mate Pepe Reina

Respect: Benitez left flowers at Liverpool's Hillsborough memorial

RIP: Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams, whose son Kevin died in 1989, is remembered after passing away

Tribute: Players from both teams observed a minute's applause before kick-off

LUIS SUAREZ'S CONTROVERSIES – WE'VE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE

Liverpool forward Luis Suarez is back in the spotlight after appearing to bite Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on the arm during the 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Anfield, going on to score a late equaliser.

Here are some of the previous controversies surrounding the Uruguayan forward.

February 2007: Suarez made his international debut for Uruguay against Colombia but was sent off in the final minutes after being shown a second yellow card for dissent.

November 2007: Joined Ajax from Uruguayan side Nacional but he was later suspended by the Dutch giants after a half-time dressing-room altercation with team-mate Albert Luque.

July 2010: During the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals, Suarez prevented Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah from scoring in the final minute with a deliberate handball on the line and was subsequently sent off. A penalty was awarded but missed by Asamoah Gyan and footage showed Suarez celebrating on the sidelines. Uruguay eventually went through to the last four on penalties.

November 2010: Suarez was handed a seven-match ban by the Dutch FA and fined by his club for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal during an Eredivisie match.

October 2011: Following his move to Liverpool in January 2011, he was involved in a tackle with Everton's Jack Rodwell and goes down with apparent minimal contact. Rodwell was then sent off.

October 2011: Suarez was alleged to have racially abused Manchester United's Patrice Evra during a Premier League match. Suarez was later found guilty by an independent regulatory commission and banned for eight matches and fined £40,000.

December 2011: Was seen making an offensive gesture towards Fulham fans. At this time he had already been charged by the Football Association over the racism incident, although not yet punished, but was handed a further one-match ban for the gesture.

February 2012: United and Liverpool met again at Old Trafford, but more controversy blew up as Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand before kick-off.

October 2012: Celebrated a goal against Everton by diving in front of Toffees boss David Moyes who had earlier claimed that "divers" such as Suarez were putting fans off the English game.

January 2013: Handles the ball prior to scoring Liverpool's winner in the FA Cup third round tie at Mansfield.

April 2013: Appears to bite Branislav Ivanovic on the arm but escapes punishment on the pitch as the referee fails to see it, and scores Liverpool's equaliser seven minutes into stoppage time as they draw 2-2 with Chelsea at Anfield.

Daily Mail

 

Rafael Nadal continued his comeback from injury with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over Joao Souza in the Brazil Open.

The Spaniard, who reached the final in Vina Del Mar last week, needed just one hour and 18 minutes to beat his Brazilian opponent in the second round.

Nadal decided to pull out of the doubles event in Sao Paulo but he is through to the quarter-finals of the singles where he will face Argentine Carlos Berlocq.

Comeback trail: Rafael Nadal beat Joao Souza in straight sets in Brazil

Going strong: Nadal pulled out of the doubles event in Sao Paulo but is into the last eight of the singles

Meanwhile in Rotterdam, Roger Federer cruised past Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker 6-3 6-4 in the second round of the World Indoor Tournament.

Defending champion Federer only landed 42 per cent of his first serves during the first set but an early break helped him take the lead against an awkward home favourite.

'He had a clear game plan with a lot of variation so I never really got into a rally,' Federer said. 'He was also unpredictable for me.'

Winner: Roger Federer overcame Thiemo de Bakker (below) in Rotterdam

Another early break in the second set combined with an improved service ratio earned top seed Federer a place in the quarter-finals where he faces Frenchman Julien Benneteau.

Second seed Juan Martin Del Potro, who was beaten by Federer in last year's final, saved his best tennis for the big points as he struggled past wild card Ernests Gulbis 7-6 6-3.

Latvian Gulbis impressed with his serve in the second set when he hit five straight aces, but a break in the eighth game was enough for Del Potro to clinch the match.

Advancing: Federer accepts the applause from the crowd

Daily Mail

At first glance, the figures do not stack up. Wayne Rooney was substituted more times in 2009-10 than he has been this season. He created fewer chances in 2004-05.

He will play roughly the same number of matches that he did in 2007-08. He has already scored more goals than he did in 2004-05 and 2010-11 and as many as in 2007-08 and 2008-09. So what is the problem?

Yet by all purely intuitive reckonings, something is not right. Rooney is not the same player as he was at the start of the season, not the same player as in previous campaigns.

On the wane: Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney hasn't looked the same player this season

Outshone: Sir Alex Ferguson believes Shinji Kagawa (right) was the star man against West Ham at Upton Park

Need a break? Rooney has been heavily linked with a move to French giants Paris Saint-Germain

Ferguson is certainly not a manager who considers headlines when making decisions, but equally, he does not actively seek aggravation at the business end of the season.

He knows there will be consequences when he leaves Rooney out of the starting line-up at home to Real Madrid, or brings him off in order to go for a win.

He knows the message he is sending: to the player, to his representatives, and to any club that may be following Rooney’s fortunes.

So something is awry. When Rooney scored his 11 goals in 2010-11, he  created 60 chances. In the year he was subbed 10 times he scored 26 goals. All the numbers in this  campaign are trending downwards.

He needs to feature in four of the last five matches if he is not to play his fewest games in any season for United, while his goals total, chances created and times replaced would all sit in the bottom three of his nine years at Old Trafford.

Maybe he is burning out.

It can happen. Michael Owen was English football’s last great teenage prodigy and his career has come to a premature end.

Next year, technically, Rooney is due a testimonial. We still think of him as youthful, but this is a long stretch.

There is no guarantee Rooney has the same ambition or desire as modern marvels like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, or even Frank Lampard. He looks fatigued at times. If the rumours about conditioning issues are true, it could be argued that he lacks commitment.

He could need a break, a change, a fresh start. Perhaps Paris Saint- Germain can provide it. Certainly,  Ferguson will not be rushing to offer an extended contract.

This is a watershed summer for Rooney and much will depend on how he returns in July. Ferguson  will be looking for reassurance that Rooney has summered with an eye on the new season.

He will not have forgotten being asked if the club can match Rooney’s ambition. This season, they have proved they can.

If there is any hint that obligation is no longer reciprocated, we are watching the last of him, not just at United, maybe in English football.

No science in selling

Newcastle United are talking £7million, West Ham United £10m, Tottenham Hotspur’s figure is believed to be somewhere in between.

The auction for Andy Carroll is moving in the wrong direction for Liverpool. Far from hearing £17m, the cry would appear to be, how low can you go?

Wrong direction: Potential transfer fees for Andy Carroll are far lower than the £35million Liverpool paid for him

Meanwhile, Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has been speaking of the new approach under the Fenway Sports Group.

‘I think the fundamental shift around player acquisitions and disposals is that it needs to be more of  a science,’ he said. Indeed.

Yet Liverpool are about to discover that when it comes to selling, the process is entirely market driven.

The value is what you can get, and as Brendan Rodgers plainly has no place for Carroll in his team, Carroll does not have the game for the major European leagues and financial fair play — enthusiastically and publicly advocated by Liverpool — will put the brakes on expenditure, a loss of £25m might be the best of it.

So here comes the science bit, Ian: there isn’t one.

So where's this science bit? Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre

Don't double up on the applause

There was a minute’s applause at Anfield yesterday in memory of Anne Williams, the Hillsborough campaigner who lost her son Kevin in the tragedy and was instrumental in the campaign for justice.

Bolted on to it was the same tribute to those affected by the attack at the Boston Marathon. Why? Anne Williams was an inspiration, so heartfelt applause  for her life’s achievement is right; but silence and reflection are the proper responses to events in Boston.

Inspiration: Anne Williams (left) received a minute's applause at Anfield

What is worthy of applause there? Remembrance becomes devalued when it is catch-all. Liverpool’s owners are from Boston and one can understand a sense of affiliation, but do they mark the Hillsborough disaster at Boston Red Sox games now? What do you think?

The clever money fancies Bayern Munich to defeat Barcelona this week, and later remove them from the Champions League. Not if Barcelona bring their A game. Bayern are a fine team. What Barcelona did to AC Milan in the Nou Camp last month, however, was something else.

Numbers just can't add up for QPR

As 58 teams have been relegated from the Premier League, and just 16 have returned at the first attempt, there is no certainty Queens Park Rangers will bounce back.

Shorn of Loic Remy, Andros Townsend and a handful of others, the squad is poor. Success will depend on a complete overhaul and there are too many expensive long-term contracts for comfort.

Players that have not shown enough gumption in the Premier League are hardly likely to welcome the slog of a Championship season. Nothing can be guaranteed.

Standing out: Loic Remy and Andros Townsend have been impressive in an otherwise poor QPR squad

Yet this week, QPR took on a £15m loan to cover ground improvements. They are scouting a 40,000 seat venue in west London, to be developed with an entertainment complex.

Chief executive Phil Beard was one of the men behind the transformation of the Millennium Dome to the O2 Arena.

Far from impending financial catastrophe, Rangers have big plans. As do Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Arsenal and even Leyton Orient if some judge will let them.

Every club in London is looking to expand, or explode, until the capital will be bursting with state-ofthe- art stadiums - that can't necessarily be filled.

Queens Park Rangers need a new pitch and a new training ground, but a new stadium? Why? They have averaged less than 18,000 in the Premier League this season, a smaller gate than Wigan Athletic.

And, no, it hasn't been a good year, yet the same could be said of Aston Villa who have pulled in close to 35,000, or Sunderland with 40,000. It is heartening for fans to know the board still have ambition, yet clubs have a natural size it requires years of sustained success to overcome.

Even now, one cannot foresee a time when Manchester City are bigger than Manchester United or Tottenham bigger than Arsenal.

Big plans: QPR chairman Tony Fernandes hopes for a new stadium for the club

It took hundreds of millions and several League titles for Chelsea to outgrow comparisons with West Ham. QPR is the smallest of the capital's Premier League clubs and probably inferior to Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic, too.

Who will watch them in a 40,000 capacity stadium? Where are these additional 20,000 supporters going to come from? Will they grow on farms?

And while we're at it...

Each week we discover a fresh drawback to the financial fair play rules. Frederic Thiriez, president of the French League, has warned of a talent drain, due to the government tax of 75 per cent on earnings over €1million.

This is a direct result of UEFA's refusal to differentiate between the unique circumstances of countries.

Meanwhile, Manchester City and Chelsea have now signed up for end-of-season tours in 2014, when England manager Roy Hodgson would hope to have players resting in preparation for the World Cup.

Yet with owner investment limited, all clubs will in time squeeze their resources until the pips squeak.

Fear: President of the French football Ligue Frederic Thiriez believes there could be a talent drain in the country

Unsung hero Mick

On November 1, 2012, when Mick McCarthy took over Ipswich Town, the club were rock bottom in the Championship, with seven points from 13 matches, and a goal difference of minus 16.

Ipswich had won a single league game all season, had lost 6-0 at Blackpool and were on a run of straight defeats culminating in a 3-0 reverse at home to Sheffield Wednesday.

McCarthy's impact has been spectacular. A draw with Wednesday at Hillsborough yesterday lifted Ipswich to 14th place, but within three points of Birmingham City in 10th.

Ipswich averaged 0.53 points per game before McCarthy, which would have put them on 23.32 now and bottom by close to 20pts. Since McCarthy's arrival they have averaged 1.61, which, taken over the 44 games played this season, would have worked out at 70.96 and fourth place. McCarthy has done a brilliant job.

He should be in contention for manager of the year.

Manager of the year? Mick McCarthy has done a remarkable job at Ipswich

They are proposing that the Football League refuses to accept relegated teams next season. Brilliant. Until one considers the consequences: a retaliatory measure, in which the Premier League refuses to take the promoted clubs from the Football League, or picks and chooses which ones it wants, before upping the drawbridge, perhaps forever.

A closed shop would sound mightily attractive to the owners of clubs like Stoke City, Sunderland and Aston Villa right now. And to start endangering the competitive existence of those threatened with relegation from the Premier League would be the quickest way to bring it about.

Kasey Palmer had been at Charlton Athletic since he was nine. Rather than sign professional forms, he decamped to Chelsea. Worse, because Chelsea have a category one academy, and Charlton's is category two, the money the club receives in compensation is reduced.

Charlton will bank £200,000 rising to £800,000 if certain goals are met. Palmer, 16, is rated so highly he has already been included in Chelsea's first-team group. He would have been a superstar at Charlton. It hardly seems fair.

Unfair: Charlton's academy status mean they will receive reduced fees from Kasey Palmer's move to Chelsea

Yet, reacting to this blow, Charlton manager Chris Powell says he will now strive to upgrade his club's academy status. Category one offers a high level of contact time with the players, a minimum of 18 full-time staff and an operational budget of £2.5m.

All clubs should aspire to this standard. If this is what inspires Charlton and other category two academies to improve the quality of their youth training programmes, for all the flaws in the system, some very tough medicine is working.

Real Madrid have gone ahead of Manchester United in Forbes table of valuable football clubs. No matter. It is nonsense anyway. United have been on top since 2004, a fact that ignores Madrid's purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

If a club can buy your best player without the help of an oligarch or sheik, but you cannot buy theirs, they are bigger than you. Any other calculation is goofy.

Superstar: Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 2009