Euro 2021 bite incident: Rudiger appears to have bitten Paul Pogba in France against Germany

We could have another worrying incident, thanks to the Euro 2021 tournament.

German defender Antonio Rudiger seemed to lean over and bite Paula Pogba’s back as he was close to marking him during the first half of their Euro 2021 group match.

Pogba turned to Spanish judge Carlos del Cerro Grande, apparently to warn him of the episode, but nothing was done. France at the time led Germany 1-0 on an own goal in the 20th minute by German defender Mats Hummels.

MORE: Ronaldo breaks records at Euro 2021

The video of the bite touches social media, as well as the reactions of fans and the media:

Former England referee and Premier League side Mark Clattenburg, who served as an expert on ESPN rules during the Euros, aired his analysis of how officials probably solved it, especially with a video review available to them:

“It’s very difficult to see what Rudiger is actually doing. He opens his mouth. He could have said something. There could have been a joke between the two of them,” he told ESPN commentators Jon Champion and Taylor Twellman. “It’s very difficult to prove that he dug his teeth into Pogba’s back. So the VAR would look at him, check and then inform the judge that there was nothing in the pictures to say it could have been a red card.

“Very hard to prove,” Clattenburg continued. “Very, very hard to prove.”

Memories of Uruguayan Luis Suarez

The episode immediately recalls the most prominent biting incident in world football in which Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez is involved. He became notorious for multiple bites during the game during his career.

He first did so in a Dutch league game in 2010 and was suspended for seven games. This was repeated in the English Premier League in 2013 and he was banned from 10 games.

But the most prominent episode in which Suarez participated took place on the biggest stage of them all: the FIFA World Cup. FIFA found Suarez guilty of biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup, and he was suspended for four months with a separate international suspension of nine games with Uruguay.