With friends like these…

After the Liverpool striker bit Branislav Ivanovic on the arm this week, support has been pretty thin on the ground.

But former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson can certainly empathise after he bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997.

They’ve since settled their differences and Tyson says Suarez and Ivanovic will do the same.

“He (Suarez) bit someone, it happens,” he told the David Glenn radio show in America. “I am sure he will make amends with this guy.

“I made amends with Evander and we got on with our lives.”

Here they are getting on with their lives:

Back to having a good time with Evander @Holyfield. Great times brother [pic] — http://t.co/F45g7WjSnq

— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) April 20, 2013

Tyson has even started to follow Suarez on Twitter.

“I saw this guy (Suarez) on the Twitter thing and thought I would check it out and see what his journey was all about,” he said.

No stranger to a bit of on-field rough and tumble himself, Joey Barton is never short of an opinion on something, and the Suarez incident was no exception.

People are going on like he's actually eaten someone. Nobody has died. Worse things happen in nurseries every day of the week. Move on FFS!

— 👑 Joey Barton 👑 (@Joey7Barton) April 21, 2013

The controversy has even led to some new social opportunities for the striker.

The Daily Mirror reported that he has been invited to the wedding of a “zombie bride and groom”.

The event is also a launch for a new zombie video game ‘Dead Island Riptide’.

Mark Fisher, head of UK marketing, Deep Silver said: “Luis Suarez is currently getting a hard time in the media following his Branislav bite down, but at Deep Silver we understand those who have an appetite for human flesh like the zombie hordes found in Dead Island Riptide.

“With that in mind, we’d be delighted to have Suarez attend our zombie wedding… just as long as he’s aware that the bride and groom might bite back!”

In his native Uruguay, some newspapers looked for some way to defend their sporting hero, with Tenfield.com.uy claiming that English newspapers “have taken advantage of the situation in order to increase their unprecedented attack on Luis Suarez”.

Former Monaco chief executive Tor-Kristian Karlsen summed up the whole situation as far as the player's employers Liverpool FC are concerned.

A world renowned manager once said to me "I want the son of a b***h to play for my team, the nice guy can marry my daughter"

— Tor-Kristian Karlsen (@karlsentk) April 22, 2013