Patrice Evra says there is no animosity towards Luis Suarez despite wanting to "punch him" during their racism row in When the two clubs met again in February , Suarez ignored Evra's handshake in the pre-match presentation. But Evra, who announced his retirement from football last week , admits he has no hatred towards Suarez and even picked him as one of the best players he faced.
I don't know his family. I don't know his background. But racism is so big for so many years and that day, there was racist abuse. I never hated him. During the return Premier League meeting in February at Old Trafford, Suarez was embroiled in further controversy when he refused to shake Evra's hand pre-match.
I made a mistake and I regret what happened. I would like to put this whole issue behind me and concentrate on playing football. They were sleeping in front of my house. Everywhere I went, the security followed me. He said they made a big mistake that day and he apologised. It really touched me and now I will respect Liverpool as a football club because, when this happened, I was really disappointed with the club.
I received an email from the chairman of Liverpool apologising for what happened nine years ago. He said I was welcome to come to Liverpool if I need anything. But I was surprised that Liverpool supported that kind of attitude. When you have those kind of problems, people around you just think you are crying. I first became aware there was a problem when Damian Comolli approached me after the game and asked me if anything had happened between me and Evra.
At first I struggled to remember anything specific. There had been an argument, but then I had probably had quite a few arguments during the game. I recalled that the referee had called us over at one point. Evra had come looking for me at a corner asking me why I had kicked him. It is always a bit hypocritical when a defender who spends the whole game kicking you complains of being kicked.
He initiated the argument and he chose to do so in Spanish. What some people will never want to accept is that the argument took place in Spanish. As I am now fully aware and I did not even know this at the time , in English there is a word that is spelled the same way but is pronounced differently and it is highly offensive: negro, pronounced nee-gro. It is not in itself an insult.
Just names based on physical characteristics, nothing more. But nor was it ever meant as a racist slur. And I certainly never said, and never would say, that I would not talk to Evra, or anyone, because they are black. But nobody had time for these subtleties when I was being condemned for racism.
He changed the accusation later but the stigma of me being someone who would use such an abusive term stuck. But he was the only one that heard it and even he was not sure what he had heard. I had said it once, in the context I have explained above, without intending any racist meaning at all.
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