Luiz Suarez Under Police Investigation After Alleged Claims Over Barcelona Striker Cheating In His Italian Citizenship Language Test

FC Barcelona’s Luiz Suarez and Juventus club are under police scanner over allegations that Suarez cheated in his Italian citizenship language test.

Image (AFP PHOTO / JOSEP LAGO)

New Delhi: FC Barcelona's star striker Luiz Suarez and Italian soccer club Juventus have come under police investigation after claims over irregularities and fraud in the Uruguayan footballer's test on Italian language as part of his bid to secure citizenship in Italy for joining football club Juventus. Suarez was set to move from FC Barcelona to Juventus, but in order to join the team, the 33-year-old player had to acquire Italian citizenship. It is alleged that he Suarez cheated in his exam as he already knew the questions and the marks were also pre-assigned. Juventus had no space for non-EU players. According to reports by Spanish media outlet Sport, officials say that there is “sufficient evidence” which indicates that the player “knew the questions” before the exam and that his final grade “had been agreed upon with the teacher before taking the test”. Suarez was long rumored to be on the verge of a switch, he had joined Barcelona in 2014 and then he married Sofia who has a European passport which was enough for him to leave. But in order to complete this switch, he had to take the exam. An uproar began after the Uruguayan player passed the exam with flying colours, reports Forbes on the matter. According to the Forbes report, Spanish media outlets have said that the examiner said that Suarez “knew how to speak and understand Italian perfectly” and that the exam “had been a relaxed chat”, also the exam was set easier than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic. In an official statement quoted by  Sport, the club had reported that investigators have a recording of the examiners saying you “cannot spoil a salary of €10M per year” by not having a sufficient B1 level of proficiency in Italian. “Tell me what grade I give and that’s it.” The press release also said that “Suarez is not joining Juventus and is instead set to sign for Atletico Madrid, however, that is irrelevant to this investigation.” The official statement ended with “If Suarez did cheat and if Juventus was party to the deception then you can expect severe repercussions. This one will not go away quietly.”