Luis Suarez was mortified after Uruguay were knocked out of the World Cup. AFP/VNA Photo

Paul Kennedy

I think it's good timing that pantomime season is about to start, and the ultimate pantomime villain has had his comeuppance at the World Cup.

Who am I talking about? Well, he's behind you… Luis Suarez, of course.

For those not from England, a pantomime is a theatrical performance mainly for children that involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story and is usually produced around Christmas.

There's always a bad guy, and, spoiler alert, they always get their just deserts by the time the curtain comes down.

Luis Suarez really is that villain, and as the Uruguayans head home after getting knocked out of the World Cup, you can probably count on one hand those who care one iota about his feelings. Outside of Uruguay, of course.

You see little Luis, never one to be too far away from controversy, left his imprint not only on the shoulder of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the 2014 tournament, but also on the entire country of Ghana after he collectively broke the hearts of a nation four years earlier.

Minutes to go, a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup at stake, Suarez punched out a goal-bound header. He was given the red card, rightly so, but much to the delight of snappy Suarez, Asamoah Gyan missed his penalty and Ghana went on to lose.

Oh what irony that the two sides should meet again, this time with a place in the last 16 at stake, kind of. Pre-match, the South American was asked about the incident the last time the countries met in the World Cup, and in typical Suarez style, he refused to apologise.

"Maybe I would apologise if I did a tackle, injured a player and took a red card. But in this situation... it's not my fault," said the 35-year-old.

"I didn't miss the penalty. The player who missed the penalty, he would do the same. It's not my responsibility how he shot the penalty."

Paul Kennedy

Despite his country's victory over the African nation, results elsewhere mean Uruguay are out of the competition, and Luis has probably kicked his last football at a World Cup finals.

Ghanaian supporters celebrated like they'd actually won the trophy. It's taken 12 years, but they've finally gotten their revenge.

And while I'm not particularly bothered that Suarez's dream is well and truly shot to pieces, I do, sort of, kinda, still like him.

When he played for my team, Liverpool, he was unstoppable. And I know he then left us in the lurch and forced a move to Barcelona, and I know he celebrated scoring against us in the Champions League semis a few years later, and yes, I know, he is probably one of, if not the, most despicable player in world football, but he was still a really, really, really brilliant player.

His best days are way behind him. He wasn't particularly good at this tournament before his team were knocked out and probably was only in the squad on past glories.

In four years, when the World Cup comes around once more, he'll be 40, and if Uruguay qualify, he will have to make do with watching their games on the telly.

But you never know… maybe he might just get a game.

"Oh no he won't." - VNS