CONTROVERSIAL footballer Luis Suarez has explained why he bites and how his wife begged him to get help.

The Uruguay superstar made front pages around the globe after biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at this year’s World Cup, earning himself a four-month ban.

Suarez has been a repeat offender, twice before taking chunks out of players on the field and — in an extract from his new book Crossing the Line: My Story — he reveals why he does it and why he finally sought help.

In an intriguing insight into his mindset, the Barcelona forward also claims “biting appals people, but it’s relatively harmless”.

“When my wife Sofi saw the footage (of the Chiellini bite), she said to me, ‘What on Earth were you thinking?’ I had to start trying to answer that question for myself,” Suarez writes.

“I had just become a father to a young daughter, Delfina, and the thought that she would grow up to see that I had done this upset me more than anything else.”

MORE: Suarez makes Barcelona debut

Suarez remains adamant that footballers should be punished just as heavily for hard tackles, punches or headbutts as they are for bites, because the injuries sustained are generally worse.

He also went to great lengths to explain why he reacted to fiery situations with his teeth.

“The adrenaline levels in a game can be so high; the pulse is racing and sometimes the brain doesn’t keep up,” Suarez says.

“The pressure mounts and there is no release valve. In 2010 (the first biting incident), I was frustrated because we were drawing what was a very important game, and we were on a bad run. I wanted to do everything right that day, and it felt as though I was doing everything wrong.

“The pent-up frustration and feeling that it was my fault reached a point where I couldn’t contain it any more.

“With Ivanovic in 2013, we had to beat Chelsea still to have any chance of making it into the Champions League. I was having a terrible game. I gave away a stupid penalty with a handball and I could feel everything slipping through our fingers. I could feel myself getting wound up.

“Moments before the Chiellini bite, I had a great chance to put us 1-0 up. If I had scored that goal, if Buffon hadn’t made the save, then I would not have done anything. But I missed the chance.

“When the heart has stopped racing after the game, it’s easy to look back and say, ‘How could you be so stupid? There were 20 minutes left.’ But out on the pitch with the adrenaline pumping and the tension mounting, you’re not even really aware of how long is left. You don’t know anything. All I could think was: ‘I didn’t score. We’re out of the World Cup.’

“There are some players who in that position would have said, ‘Well, we’re out, but I scored two great goals against England. I’m the star.’

“I could have asked to be taken off: ‘My knee is hurting again, I scored two in the last game, I did my best.’ But I wanted more.

“The fear of failure clouds everything for me — even the blatantly obvious fact that I have at least 20,000 pairs of eyes on me; it is not as if I am not going to be seen. Logic doesn’t come into it.”

Suarez says that his “switching off” on the pitch also enables him to do the brilliant things he does in a match, so it is going to be difficult to find that balance because he doesn’t want to lose that side of his game.

“I’ve scored goals and later struggled to understand how exactly I managed to score them. There is something about the way I play that is unconscious, for better or worse. I want to release the tension and the pressure, but I don’t want to lose the spontaneity in my game, much less the intensity of my style of play.”

Suarez does, however, now accept the blame, admitting: “It was my fault. This was the third time it had happened. I needed help.”

He says he’d resisted help in the past because he didn’t want it to make him “too calm on the pitch”, revealing he had been a hot-headed player his entire life.

“When I was a kid, I got sent off for headbutting a referee: I ran 50m to argue a decision, I was shown a red card and I headbutted him. I’m really not proud of that,” Suarez says.

But now, after stern talking to from his wife, Sofi, Suarez is trying to eradicate biting from his repertoire.

“Sofi and I went away to the countryside to talk about everything, and I finally began to accept what I needed to do. She was annoyed with herself for not having been firmer with me before.

“She said to me, ‘So now are you going to listen to me?’ This time it felt like there was no alternative, and I took the initiative.

“I did the research and I found the right people.

“It still feels like something very private, but I feel that they are helping me to understand that I don’t have to hold things in; and that I don’t have to feel such a huge weight of responsibility when I’m on the pitch.

“I’m already learning how to deal with these build-ups of pressure. I have always preferred to keep things to myself, rather than sharing them with anyone, but I am learning that if you let it go, you feel better for it. Don’t keep it all bottled up inside; don’t take it all on alone.”