Suarez vs.The World

Suarez is usually not scared of using his hands – most notably in Uruguay’s World Cup 2010 Quarter Final where he blocked the ball on the line to stop Ghana taking the lead in extra time.

“The Hand of God now belongs to me”, he said after the game.

But yesterday Suarez refused to shake his hallowed hand with Manchester United captain Patrice Evra after he had served an 8-match ban for racially abusing the Frenchman.

Before the game, most people were discussing whether Evra – as the victim of racial abuse – would shake Suarez’s hand, but it turned out to be the other way round.

Evra stepped up and was willing to put the whole debacle behind them but Suarez attempted to avoid him, prompting the Frenchman to grab his arm and show his disgust at what was a short-sighted expression of cowardice and petulance.

Suarez must love the negative attention, because he certainly hasn’t helped himself.

He had the chance to grow-up and improve his reputation at a time when he is getting peppered from all sides.

Instead, he inexplicably chose to increase the pressure on himself.

Dalglish’s interview after the game was also typical; claiming that it was ‘bang out of order’ to blame Suarez for setting the tone to the match.

Put it this way – if he had shook Evra’s hand at the beginning and gone through the match without encouraging controversy, there wouldn’t have been the wild scenes at half time, or indeed after the final whistle when the United captain milked the applause and celebrated excessively next to Suarez.

This was always going to be a tough re-introduction for the Uruguayan at Old Trafford, but he only has himself to blame for Evra’s reaction, the increased hostility of the United crowd and the inevitable barrage of negative press attention he will receive in the coming weeks.

Matthew Goolding

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