Happily Evra After?

The early kick-off in this weekend’s Premier League fixtures sees Manchester United and Liverpool do battle at Old Trafford. The two most successful teams in the history of English football, with 37 league titles between them. While Manchester United has been far more successful domestically in recent years, their bouts with Liverpool have brought about some memorable moments for us all. Nemanja Vidic’s tussles with Fernando Torres have been a recent highlight, and controversy has never been far away from this heated fixture. After completing his 8 month suspension, Eric Cantona returned for Manchester United against Liverpool, a match in which he created one goal and scored another.

Another suspension has recently ended, with Luis Suarez making his first start for Liverpool since his alleged racist burst at Patrice Evra. Obviously, all the pre-match hype has been about Suarez and Evra, with many wondering how the two will react to facing each other once again. Surely everything would be put to bed, and the football would be allowed to do the talking? No chance. Think again.

As the teams shook hands, Suarez did the ungodly thing everyone was dreading and refused to shake Evra’s hand, despite being offered the gesture by the French international. Personally, I think this is absolutely disgusting behaviour from Suarez, given the fact that he is the guilty party and not the one who has been offended. Evra has tried to be the bigger man and put the whole thing to bed with a handshake, showing maturity and class in the process. But no, petty little Suarez spat the dummy out and refused, giving his own team unprecedented problems in the process.

Kenny Dalglish will have to defend his striker once again, the papers will have a field day, and the whole thing will spiral further out of control. All of this because Suarez wasn’t man enough to shake Evra’s hand and put the whole thing to bed. As a Newcastle fan, all I want is to see a good game of football between two top footballing sides in this country. But once again, the Suarez/Evra confrontation has overshadowed this great game in the English calendar.

I’m not suggesting Suarez is a poor player, he has probably been Liverpool’s best player this season when available, in my opinion. However, a little more maturity, class and sportsmanship on his part would see him making the headlines for all the right reasons. As much as Liverpool fans may defend Suarez, I’m sure each and every Scouser would much rather read their Sunday paper with Suarez headlining for scoring a hat-trick instead of a controversy like this.

Lets hope that the issue can be resolved soon, and equilibrium can be reached between the two players. Here’s hoping for a Happy Evra After!

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