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Jose Mourinho hails Luis Suarez: Chelsea boss heaps praise on 'amazing' Liverpool striker after World Cup heroics against England

Striker brilliant in the Uruguay win that all but dumped England out

Tom Sheen
Saturday 21 June 2014 13:34 BST
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Jose Mourinho is maintaining a consistent line in limiting expectations
Jose Mourinho is maintaining a consistent line in limiting expectations (Getty Images)

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes Liverpool and Uruguay hitman Luis Suarez proved his 'amazing' talent with a match-winning performance against England.

Suarez only had knee surgery in May but recovered to score two decisive goals as Uruguay beat Roy Hodgson's Three Lions, effectively sending them out of the World Cup.

Despite not being at 100 per cent, Suarez was too much for England's defenders to handle, as he headed home the opening goal before smashing in the winner just six minutes from time.

Mourinho now believes Suarez has gotten over the early troubles of his career to grow into one of the very best players in the world.

"I think there are two periods of Luis Suarez," the Chelsea manager told Yahoo.

"The one period, before I arrived [back at Chelsea in 2013] he had bad behaviour. Obviously he was criticised.

After arriving in England Suarez earned lengthy bans for racism towards Manchester United defender Patrice Evra and biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.

But after serving his 10 game ban for that incident, Suarez returned on fire, scoring 31 goals as Liverpool mounted an unlikely Premier League title challenge before finishing second.

Mourinho added: "When his behaviour is okay, people give him the credit he deserves. I speak by myself - when he dives and tries to win penalties out of nothing I don't like the situation.

"But when he plays like he did many, many times for Liverpool, and when he plays like he did [against England] - I have to say, [he is] absolutely amazing.

"The commitment, the connection with the players, the connection with the supporters - I have to say, amazing."

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