The Liverpool defender, who broke his leg in 2003, says he would have traded the injury for bite marks, and has dismissed speculation that his Uruguayan team-mate will be axed

Jamie Carragher has played down the severity of Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez’s bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, and believes it has been blown out of proportion.

The Uruguay international was charged with violent conduct by the FA and fined £200,000 by the Merseyside club following the incident during Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Anfield.

While Carragher acknowledges that the incident was unsavoury and shocking, he is adamant that there are plenty of worse things that can happen on a football pitch, citing a broken leg he suffered 10 years ago.

“The bite was shocking, no question, and everyone who has seen it was amazed,” Carragher wrote in the Daily Mail. “Yet was it worse than a challenge that could end someone’s career?

“I know what it is like to have your leg broken by a reckless tackle. Lucas Neill cost me six months of my career in September 2003 when he played for Blackburn. Would I have preferred to have been bitten? Absolutely.

“I suspect that Branislav Ivanovic, who has conducted himself with great credit in the aftermath, would agree.”

Carragher also dismissed suggestions that Liverpool would need to turf Suarez out of the club in order to restore their integrity and believes the past indiscretions of former players, himself included, prove the 26-year-old is entitled to another chance.

“The way things are now being pitched is that Liverpool have got to do something about the rotten apple in their midst,” he added.

“It is as if Luis is the only player to have represented Liverpool who has ever been embroiled in controversy. That simply isn’t the case.

“Every one of the players I mention regretted what happened and Luis is the same. More importantly, the club stood by every one of them.”