Who's the victim? ... Suarez's ban has been the source of much debate. Source: PA Wire / AAP
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has slammed the English Football Association for prejudicing the hearing that resulted in a 10-match ban for Luis Suarez.
And in an even more incredible outburst, goalkeeper Pepe Reina has labelled the ban as "absurd" and said Suarez has been treated differently by the FA because he's Uruguayan.
Reds striker Suarez was hit with the suspension on Thursday morning (AEST) after biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic during last weekend's 2-2 draw at Anfield.
The Uruguay international will miss the rest of this season and the first six games of next season and it has been reported that Suarez is now considering whether to quit English football in protest at the severity of the punishment.
Faced with the possibility of losing his star forward, who has scored 30 times for Liverpool this season, Rodgers turned his fire on the FA.
He was infuriated not only by the independent panel's ruling, but also the FA's decision to state prior to the hearing that the statutory three-match suspension for violent conduct would be "insufficient".
"We need to understand what an independent panel is," Rodgers said.
"If you are an independent panel and yet the day beforehand the FA come out and say he (Suarez) will serve more than three games it is not independent because they are already putting pressure on the sanction."
Claiming that Suarez has been victimised due to his controversial personality, Rodgers referred to the 2006 cases of Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe, who escaped with just a booking for biting West Ham's Javier Mascherano, and Chester's Sean Hessey, who was banned for five matches for a bite on Stockport's Liam Dickinson.
"For him to receive that (10-match ban), when the comparisons of the similar incidents is somewhat different, then that is what is hard to take."
This despite the 26-year-old having a previous seven-game ban in Holland for biting PSV midfielder Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax and an eight-match suspension last season English for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.
Rodgers added: "I felt it could have been 12 games but with a six-game ban and six games suspended, looking at his future behaviour.
"I can't help but look at it and look at the sanction which has been put on Luis and I honestly feel the punishment has been against the man rather than the incident."
Reina believes Suarez, who has until noon on Friday to appeal against the additional seven-match ban, has been singled out because of his nationality and past misdemeanours.
"I consider myself a friend of Luis," Reina told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.
"People in England are treating him different because he is Uruguayan; because he has had a previous episode like this.
"He knows perfectly well that what he did was wrong but a 10-game ban seems to me absurd, out of proportion and unfair. It seems that the people making the decisions have got it in for Luis a little bit.
"I know Luis and I know that he is the complete opposite (off the pitch): he is a magnificent person and great team-mate. But because of the way he plays, he is aggressive and very competitive, he plays like a street player and sometimes the way he is gets him into trouble.
"There is a lot of hypocrisy. Some players are treated differently to others. In the racism cases: the one with proof got a four-game ban and Luis got eight matches."
Asked if he felt there was xenophobia in England, he added: "No, but there is hypocrisy - a different measure is used."
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