Sir Alex blasts Suarez as Man Utd win

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has taken the extraordinary step of not blasting Liverpool striker Luis Suarez but also suggesting that the Uruguayan international should never play for his club again.

A Wayne Rooney brace early in the second half saw Manchester United return to the top of the table following a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in their spiteful Barclays Premier League encounter at Old Trafford.

However the on-field action was overshadowed by the simmering feud between Luis Suarez and Man Utd captain Patrice Evra which exploded with several incidents, which started before the contest.

Suarez who was making his first start following serving his eight-match ban for racially abusing Evra when the two side’s meet earlier this year in October refused to shake the Frenchman’s hand during the traditional pre-match handshake.

Evra reacted angrily to the snub and grabbed Suarez hand and the Man Utd defender was still furious with the Reds striker as he reportedly confronted him in the tunnel during the main break.

The pair had to be reportedly separated by team-mates, officials and even police and it wasn’t over there however as Evra celebrated in close proximately to Suarez after the final whistle.

Despite a disgruntled Suarez taking no action towards Evra as he continued to walk down the tunnel some of his Reds team-mates were none too pleased and took umbrage with the French international as tempers threatened to boil over.

But Evra was immediately surrounded by officials and police alike and they escorted the French international down the tunnel as the Red Devils avenged their F.A. Cup Fourth Round defeat to the Reds.

Despite claiming all three points over their archrivals Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to focus on the pre-match handshake – or refusal – and lambasted Suarez for not shaking the hand of Evra.

“I couldn’t believe, I just could not believe it,” a clearly furious Ferguson said on Sky Sports 1. “Patrice told me this morning, ‘I’m going to shake his hand, I’ve nothing to be ashamed of.’ But then Suarez refuses. He’s a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club.”

“Some players should not be allowed to play for Liverpool again, the history that club’s got, and he does that. In a situation like today he could have caused a riot.”

“I was really disappointed in that guy, it was terrible what he did. It created tension, you saw the referee, he didn’t know what to do about it. It caught him off guard.”

“It was a terrible start to the game and a terrible atmosphere it created,” added Ferguson as his veteran defender in Rio Ferdinand also refused to shake Suarez hand during the traditional pre-game hand shake.

Ferguson was also non too pleased with Evra following his post-match celebrations which also could have incited a riot and despite the Scotsman saying that he did not see the incident when told of it he said: “He shouldn’t have done that.”

Man Utd defender Rio Ferdinand told MUTV afterwards: “After seeing what I saw I decided not to shake his hand. He’s not got the respect that he needs to have in these situations and acknowledge he’s made a mistake and say sorry. I lost all respect for the guy after that.”

“It’s a touchy subject at the minute and things could have been put to bed a little bit easier if the handshake had been done. It could have been resolved today, maybe, between the two people who are involved. After this, it’s not great. It’s disappointing. I expected more from the other guy but it wasn’t to be.”

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish reacted angrily when it was suggested that the pre-game handshake incident set a cynical tone for the encounter as his side were clearly outplayed by the home side.

The Scotsman claimed that he did not see the ‘non handshake’ but was told by his interviewer what took place and then was not too happy with the reporter who told him that Suarez had set the tone for the ill-tempered contest.

“I’ll have to take your word for it, I wasn’t there. Ask him, take it from him,” said Dalglish of the pre-game incident on Sky Sports. “I think you’re very severe and bang out of order to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened here today. Both sets of fans behaved really well, there was banter between each other, no problem.”

Suarez, who scored what turned out to be a consolation goal took to social media after the game as he expressed his disappointment about the events which took place at the theatre of dreams.

The former Ajax Amsterdam captain tweeted: “We lost and we are sad because we have made a big effort… Disappointed because everything is not that it seems…”