Barcelona Over his treatment following Chiellini bite

Luis Suárez declined an invitation from FIFA to attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony. As the striker implied in an interview with Uruguayan newspaper Ovación, he still has hard feelings over the way he was treated following his bite on Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup, which is why he turned down the chance to go to Zurich.

"FIFA invited me to the Ballon d'Or gala using the excuse that I'd been named the best player at the Club World Cup. I don't think they've ever invited the winner of that prize before and it just so happens that they thought to invite me", Suárez stated, making it clear that he felt this was by no means a coincidence.

On the subject of December's competition in Japan, Suárez admitted that he had to block out FIFA's role as organisers in order to really enjoy it: "It was a tournament that I was really excited about and I tried not to think about who had organised it".