HERE, in the heart of Catalonia, a certain Luis Suarez is proof positive that almost anything can, and will, be forgiven in football.

This dreadful man from Uruguay was serving a four-month suspension from the sport when FC Barcelona decided to pay Liverpool a mighty £65 million for his services last July.

Suarez had just taken a chunk out of the shoulder of an Italian player, Giorgio Chiellini, during a match in the World Cup finals. It was the third occasion on which the 28-year-old, previously suspended for racial abuse, had bitten an opponent.

An element of the Barca fanbase was unsure about their club signing such an unpleasant, albeit talented, character. However, those who remain unsettled over his presence are now very much the black sheep of the family.

Suarez has scored 19 goals in 34 appearances and provided a shedload of assists. That is all that matters with Barcelona leading the Primera Division, in the final of the Copa del Rey and having reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Suarez is referred to as an emerging symbol of veneration in a gushing media.

Everything that went before seems inconsequential, rather like Barca's noble commitment to playing without a shirt sponsor evaporating when Qatar put £125m on the table in 2011.

Just this week, those of us who enjoy the sports press with our breakfast sobrasada were treated to a most unsavoury interview with Suarez, who should think himself fortunate not to have been banned sine die.

"I don't think what I did was cruel enough to be treated the way I was," he said. "I was treated worse than a delinquent."

Delinquency, of course, is something not uncommon to the Scottish game. Dundee's Paul McGowan, confined to barracks as a result of a 7pm court-imposed curfew, most probably watched Suarez on TV on Tuesday in the Blaugrana's big match with Paris Saint Germain.

McGowan plays at an entirely different level of the sport. While Suarez prefers to dabble in low-level cannibalism, McGowan's expertise lies in assaulting policemen. Yet, like Suarez, his continuing misbehaviour is not considered by his bosses, surely aware of their role in influencing younger supporters, to be worthy of dismissal.

The admission from his manager, Paul Hartley, that he may not play again this season because of his tagging order simply highlights how absurd is his continued employment at Dens Park.

McGowan, predictably, has vowed to seek help for his problems.

Gambling and drinking, though, are not illnesses. Ingesting the bionic tonic and aiming your size eights at Plod is, absolutely, a matter of choice.

McGowan is no Suarez, but Dundee know he is talented enough to do them a turn and that is why he is being allowed to keep his job in spite of everything. This is football's true face. Nothing else matters other than getting results.

Suarez was asked in that Q&A why it took him almost a week to admit that he had bitten Chiellini and apologise. "I didn't want to see reality," he replied.

Indeed. Keeping the blinkers on is something professional football is rather good at.