Days after sparking a post-game brawl after the League Cup final, Luis Suárez is apologizing for his role in the fight. The Inter Miami forward took to Instagram on Thursday to express his regrets for his actions after the high-intensity match, where the Seattle Sounders defeated Miami 3-0 in dominant fashion.
Moments after the win, Suárez put a Sounders player, 20-year-old midfielder Obed Vargas, in a headlock, instigating a fight as both sides came together in scrum. It took several minutes for the two teams to be separated. At some point in the skirmish, Suárez got in the face of a member of Seattle’s security staff, and seemingly spat in his face.
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Suárez began Thursday’s apology, written in Spanish in an Instagram story, by congratulating the Sounders on their Leagues Cup victory. He then said that he “did not want to miss the opportunity” to acknowledge his actions and apologize.
“I want to sincerely apologize for my behavior at the end of the match. It was a moment of high tension and frustration, and while certain things happened after the final whistle that should not have, that does not excuse my reaction. I was wrong, and I deeply regret it,” Suárez wrote.
“This is not the example I want to set for my family, who suffer from my mistakes, no for my club, which does not deserve to be affected by such actions.”
Suárez did not address any particular incident in the skirmish, and did not apologize directly to Vargas or the staff member, Gene Ramirez.
Suárez finished the apology by saying that he is “fully committed” to working with his teammates to achieve success throughout the rest of the season. Inter Miami has nine games remaining in the regular season, including a rematch against the Sounders in two weeks. The team currently sits in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 46 points, but has several matches in hand.
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Other Miami players, including stat midfielder Sergio Busquets, were also heavily involved in the fight: Busquets appeared to put his fist to Vargas’ face, while defender Maximiliano Falcón put Sounders defender Cody Baker in a headlock, among other concerning actions.
The Leagues Cup committee is looking into the postgame conduct and will assess whether to hand down punishment to players involved, per GiveMeSport’s Tom Bogert. But it’s possible that MLS could also step in to provide additional suspensions in league play — something that has precedent in other tournaments.
In 2019, Real Salt Lake coach Mike Petke was suspended for three games by MLS after an outburst at a referee during a Leagues Cup game; Petke, who used several homophobic slurs during the tirade, was later fired for the incident. Before that, in a U.S. Open Cup match in 2015, Sounders forward Clint Dempsey was suspended by the league for three games after ripping up a referee’s notebook during a foul-heavy game that is infamously known as the “Red Card Wedding.”
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It’s likely, then, that the MLS Disciplinary Committee will look into the melee as well. The list of infractions reviewable by the committee cover several that may be relevant to the fight, including: mass confrontation, hands to the face/head/neck of an opponent, violent conduct and additional authority for what the committee deems “egregious” behavior.
As of Thursday, MLS has yet to acknowledge the fight. The league has not indicated whether it is considering discipline for any of the players involved.
