“Yes, this was one of the worst decisions,” Suárez said through a smile, rubbing the tattoo that spreads down from his shoulder. Sitting nearby, his wife, Sofia, grimaced. “I don’t even know what to say about that,” she said. She then stuck out her tongue.

When Suárez was 18, he and a cousin in his native Uruguay decided to get tattoos and opted to eschew such extravagances as a proper tattoo parlor or someone with any sort of experience in the art. Good taste kept Suárez, 27, from describing in detail exactly what his cousin sloppily carved on him back then, but Sofia, who has known Suárez since childhood, rolled her eyes. “There are no words,” she said. “I tell him how much I hate it all the time.”

More recently, Suárez attempted to assuage the situation by having a new, twisting design tattooed on top of the old one. The results were mediocre. “It’s tribal!” he said, with forced enthusiasm, as he revealed the reconditioned tattoo. When it was pointed out that “tribal” is often one of those descriptions people use for tattoos when they don’t really know what to say, Suárez nodded desperately. “This is true,” he said.

Fortunately for Liverpool, Suárez’s attempts at an image cleanup on the field have gone more smoothly. He began this season as a virtual pariah in Merseyside — suspended for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, he then tried to force a transfer from the club. At the time, he cited a desire to play in the Champions League immediately, and Arsenal made an offer of about 40 million British pounds (almost $68 million) that was ultimately rejected by Liverpool officials. Suárez then reversed course and, in fully enigmatic fashion, signed a contract extension to stay.