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Ajax Amsterdam's Luis Suarez reacts against Real Madrid during their Champions League Group G soccer...
Ajax Amsterdam's Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has been banned for seven matches after biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal on the shoulder in their league match on Saturday, the Dutch FA (KNVB) said.Ajax added on their website (www.ajax.nl) on Wednesday that a seven-match domestic ban proposed by the KNVB's disciplinary board had been accepted by captain Suarez who was originally suspended for two matches and fined by the Amsterdam club.
Suarez will miss six league games and one Dutch Cup match before he can return to action on Feb. 4 but is available for their Champions League match away to AC Milan on Dec. 8.
Ajax's 4-0 home defeat by Real Madrid on Tuesday ended their hopes of reaching the knockout stage but they can finish third in Group G to clinch a consolation place in the Europa League.
Suarez, who has scored seven league goals this season, earned Uruguay a place in this year's World Cup semi-finals when his deliberate handball in the final minute of extra time against Ghana prevented a decisive goal from Dominic Adiyiah.
The striker, who blocked Adiyiah's attempt with two hands on the line, was sent off but his team won a penalty shootout.
Saturday's incident against PSV happened in stoppage time after referee Bjorn Kuipers showed Ajax's Rasmus Lindgren a straight red for a rough tackle on playmaker Ibrahim Afellay.
Suarez argued with Bakkal, who stood on the Uruguayan's foot, prompting him to bite Bakkal's shoulder although the incident was missed by the referee.
In 2007, Frenchman Sebastian Sansoni of Vitesse Arnhem bit NEC Nijmegen's Roy Beerens on the nose and got a five-match ban.
(Editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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