Man United and Barcelona met in Maryland last night, the state famous for providing the bleak backdrop to The Wire. Among the many, many quotable lines from the show comes from Police Detective and St Pat's supporter, Bunk: "A man must have a code".
Last night, we saw a fine example of a man who rarely betrays his code, even in meaningless friendly matches. Regardless of the importance of the game, Luis Suarez will solemnly swear to act the prick if it means he might win.
Barca beat United 1-0, with the decisive goal coming from Neymar, although it did owe quite a bit to Luis Suarez' prodigious attempt to deny Chris Smalling the opportunity to block the shot. Here's the goal, and keep an eye out for Suarez' obstruction of Smalling:
In case there was any doubt as to his intention, Suarez mentioned it in his post-game Instagram post. The caption in English reads:
Good game, we continue to improve day by day ??? your welcome ney for the block??@neymarjr.
This was not the sole extent of Suarez' messing, however. This incident below has it all: the obvious dive, the self-righteous appeal, the blootering of the ball away in disgust.
We'd say never change to Suarez, but if he's garlanding friendly games with this behaviour, then there is really no need.
