Luis Suárez rules out appeal against 10-match ban over 'unacceptable' bite

Liverpool will be without Luis Suárez until late September after their leading goalscorer chose not to appeal against a 10-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic.

The Uruguay international and Liverpool striker received the written reasons for the independent regulatory commission's decision before 6pm on Thursday but, after consideration with legal representatives, Suárez decided to accept the punishment and issued another apology for his actions via his Twitter account.

"I am truly very sorry about the incident with Branislav Ivanovic," he said. "I hope that all the people who I have offended at Anfield last Sunday will grant me forgiveness. I know that all the things that are happening to me in England will help me improve my conduct on the field. Right now I just want to focus on becoming a better footballer on and off the field.

Hello to everyone, I wanted to share this statement with all of you. Thanks for your support twitter.com/luis16suarez/s…

— Luis Suarez (@luis16suarez) April 26, 2013

"I would like to explain to everybody that I decided to accept the ban because whilst 10 games is clearly greater than those bans given in past cases where players have actually been seriously hurt, I acknowledge that my actions were not acceptable on the football pitch so I do not want to give the wrong impression to people by making an appeal. I really want to learn from what has happened in the last two and a half years, many things have been said and written about me, I just tried to do my best on the field. I hope to come back early to play."

- Guardian.co.uk