Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has defended Luis Suarez in the wake of the Reds' controversial 2-1 win over Mansfield Town in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
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The Uruguayan striker clearly handled the ball in the play leading up to his winner, but referee Andre Mariner allowed the goal to stand, securing Brendan Rodgers' side victory and progression into the fourth round.
Fowler has voiced his support over accusations that Suarez handled the ball intentionally, laughing off suggestions that he should have informed the referee about the incident.
"Seriously, Suarez did nothing wrong, and I'm amazed at the reaction. I honestly don't even believe he handled deliberately. The ball is smashed right at his hand from very close range, and he'd have needed some reactions to have calculated that one," Fowler told the Daily Mirror.
"You can see by the way his arm bounces above his shoulder after the ball hits him that he isn't braced for it. That tells you something. I think the way he then knocked the ball into the net, he assumed it would be ruled out, but if there's any criticism, it should be at the referee, not the player.
"I think the Mansfield manager and his players summed it up when they said Suarez was just doing his job, and they'd have done exactly the same thing. So would I. It was handball, but instinctive and not deliberate cheating, and you can't criticise him for that."
Fowler himself has been at the centre of controversy in a Liverpool shirt, and in an act of true sportsmanship, urged the referee not to award a penalty to the Reds during a Premier League match against Arsenal at Highbury in 1997, admitting that David Seaman had not brought him down in the area.
The former England man was commended by UEFA for the act, but he insists the Uruguayan had no obligation to the same in this situation.
"If he has to tell the referee he handled, do the defenders have to go and tell the ref every time they foul a striker? It's laughable, it really is."
The 37-year-old added that Suarez has become somewhat of a media scapegoat, and such attention wouldn't have been generated if someone else were in his position.
"He's the one now, isn't he? Everything he does, he'll get criticised for it when, with somebody else, it wouldn't even raise a murmur."
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