Luis Suarez refused to apologise for his infamous handball in the final minute of extra-time in the 2010 World Cup quarter-final against Ghana, pointing out it wasn't he who missed the resultant penalty.
Uruguay meet Ghana in Friday's Group H finale, with the South American side needing a win to progress to the knockout phase.
It's only the second ever meeting of the two nations, the first being the dramatic quarter-final in Johannesburg in 2010, when Uruguay advanced following a penalty shootout after a controversial conclusion to extra-time.
In a chaotic goalmouth scramble in the dying seconds, with the score at 1-1, Suarez blocked Dominic Adiyiah's header on the goal-line, slapping the ball away with his hands. The ref immediately brandished a red card and awarded a penalty to the Ghanaians.
However, with the final act of the game, Asamoah Gyan slammed the penalty off the crossbar, sending the game to a shootout, in which the Uruguayans prevailed.
Suarez's celebration at the penalty miss, before he marched down the tunnel, were regarded as a further provocation by the Ghanaian supporters.
On Thursday, Suarez fielded questions from Ghanaian journalists, one of whom remarked that many people in Ghana regard him as "the devil himself".
Suarez, however, who answered in English, was unrepentant, pointing out that he might apologise if he had injured someone but saw no reason to say sorry over an offence for which he was punished at the time.
"The first time, I don't apologise for that. I take the handball. But the Ghana player missed the penalty. Not me," Suarez said.
"Maybe I apologise if I injure a player and get a red card.
"But in this situation, I take the red card. The ref said penalty. It's not my fault. Because I didn't miss the penalty.
"If you see a player miss a penalty, would he say he'd do it the same (again)?
"It's not my responsibility to shoot the penalty."
Suarez was then asked if he had thought, with Ghana looking for revenge, what the game on Friday could be like for him, and he said: "No, I haven't really thought about this.
"I don't know what people are saying, whether they are saying this, revenge. But players that will play tomorrow might be eight years old back then.
"Some people might say 'the devil himself', 'he did that'... We can't misunderstand things.
"We won against Portugal in 2018 (in the World Cup last 16) - have we heard Portuguese people saying 'we need revenge'? No.
"What I did with (Italy's Giorgio) Chiellini (when he bit the defender at the 2014 World Cup) - I played against him afterwards. I made a mistake, and then we shook hands. You can't just keep thinking about the past and just focus on revenge."
Uruguay boss Diego Alonso was asked if he would want Suarez to do the same on Friday, and said: "Every match is different. I don't think we will experience a similar situation to that one. So let's just focus on playing a good game."
The topic was then put to Ghana boss Otto Addo, who said: "If the same incident happened the other way around and Ghana proceeded to the semi-finals, everyone would say 'OK, it's normal that a player would do anything he can to help his team'.
"So for me, it's not a big topic. This is what I wish from every player - to do all he can to help his team, sometimes even sacrifice himself with a red card.
"It was a very sad day, for me also - I watched it and was so sad. But this is my perspective. If I see it from another perspective, it's a normal thing.
"It's not a normal game because the public is making it different, but for me it's a normal game. We want to qualify for the next stage, we surely want to win, but if it wasn't Uruguay, no matter who it is, we want to win and have a good game. For us, what happened in 2010 was very sad, but we can't change it and we're looking forward."
Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey said: "What happened some years ago will be always history that is in our mind, but this is a total different game.
"We have different players, different quality, they have a lot of quality players with a lot of experience, and we just have to work harder and try to get what we want to get."
Speaking to TalkSport yesterday, Gyan himself said that Ghanaian fans "hate" Suarez, though he said that he understands the Uruguayan's actions.
"Back home, everybody who watched the game, they dislike Suarez. He is a hero in Uruguay although people in Ghana see him as a cheat. People do hate him.
"If I was Suarez I would have done the same to save my country."
Ghana have the chance to advance and end Uruguay's last-16 hopes. The African side are currently second in the group with three points, while Alonso's team are bottom with one. Already-qualified Portugal lead the pool with six, and South Korea are third with one.
With additional reporting: PA
