Soccer:This was supposed to be the end of it. The day when a line was finally drawn under the Luis Suarez/Patrice Evra affair. Even Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, Suarez's staunchest defender in the wake of the race row which exploded last October, thought it would be the final chapter in a saga which has rumbled on for far too long.
However, with the movement of one hand — away from the Manchester United defender — Suarez ensured there remained plenty of criticism, recrimination and bad feeling to follow.
Evra, to his credit, offered his hand to Suarez during the pre-match formalities and when it was refused he attempted to force the issue by grabbing the arm of his opponent. Suarez shrugged him off and then found himself blanked by Rio Ferdinand as the simmering tensions between the two teams threatened to boil over.
That they did in the tunnel at half-time when Evra reportedly tried to confront Suarez, provoking a melee which attracted the interest of stewards and police, is no great surprise.
United manager Alex Ferguson branded Suarez a “disgrace to Liverpool Football Club” and claimed he should never play for them again.
“I could not believe it, I just could not believe it,” Ferguson said after the match. “He’s a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club, that certain player should not be allowed to play for Liverpool again.
“The history that club’s got and he does that and in a situation like today could have caused a riot. I was really disappointed in that guy, it was terrible what he did. It created a tension, you’ve seen the referee didn’t know what to do about it.
“It caught him off guard. It was a terrible start to the game, a terrible atmosphere it created.”
Asked if the pre-match handshakes should have been scrapped for the game as it was last month when John Terry and Anton Ferdinand faced each other, he said: “That’s a different issue altogether. It’s never been a problem really up until this situation regarding racism, it’s never been a problem.
“We’ve got to get our house in order in terms of fighting racism. It’s an important issue in this country. Football’s come a long way from the days of John Barnes when they were throwing bananas at him to where we are today. We can’t go back. We have to go forward in a positive way and ban it altogether.”
Evra enthusiastically celebrated the win in front of Suarez at the end.
“He shouldn’t have done that,” Ferguson said.
