Former Manchester United star Patrice Evra has opened and given more insight to his then allegations against Luis Suarez during an incident 9 years prior. The former left back has revealed that Liverpool finally sent him a letter of apology over their handling of the Luis Suarez racism incident back in 2011.
Speaking to Sky Sports in the video below, the Frenchman said that Liverpool CEO Peter Moore sent him a personal letter about the incident, as he praised the Reds as a top class club.
"I received a personal letter from Peter Moore. He said he hopes it's never too late. Now I see it's real honest people working for this club."
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 19, 2020
Patrice Evra reveals Liverpool sent him an apology for the handling of the Suarez-racism row, after his last Super Sunday appearance. pic.twitter.com/UrctWQRZHk
This is certainly welcome from the Reds, who did not respond well to Suarez’s racist language towards Evra at the time.
The club’s players notably went out in pre-match ‘Suarez 7’ shirts in tribute to the Uruguayan as he was suspended for his abuse of Evra, but thankfully it seems lessons have been learned.
The drama between both players goes as back as 2011. On October 15, in the Premier League match at Anfield, the Liverpool striker and the Manchester United left-back had clashed in one of those mass jostles ahead of a corner. It was nothing physical, not much more than the standard push-me-pull you, certainly nothing the referee thought worthy of intervention.
After the match however, when interviewed by French television, Evra suggested that, during an extended argument about an earlier foul, the Liverpool striker had subjected him to a barrage of racist slights. He had called him “a certain word” at least 10 times, Evra said.
When told of the accusations, Suarez denied them and wrote, in a Facebook post, that he was upset at the very idea he might be thought racist.
Evra had reported the incident to the match official. He had discussed what had happened with his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who had told him he would back him should he feel it necessary to make a more formal statement. But the player had decided against it, assuming his tetchy post-match media interaction would be the end of it.
The FA, however, picked up on his interview. Sensitive to the long-term accusation that it was not sufficiently robust in its procedures to ensure the game was not tainted by racism, it announced it would launch a full investigation.
A board of inquiry would be set up to ascertain whether there had been any “abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour contrary to FA rules”, including “a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra.”
Liverpool quickly released a statement announcing Suarez would contest the United player’s claims, adding that the club would “remain fully supportive” of him.
