The historic rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool added a new chapter on Saturday when Luis Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra's hand during the pre-match handshake ceremony.
Suarez recently returned from an eight-match suspension for racial abuse of Evra during a match between the two clubs on October 15, 2011. While Suarez claimed his words were misunderstood and blamed the incident on cultural differences (Suarez is Uruguayan), the English Football Association deemed his acts worthy of punishment following exhaustive analysis of the incident.
Suarez apparently hasn't forgiven Evra for getting him suspended, as he refused to shake Evra's hand after the Frenchman offered it to him before the match. Evra then grabbed Suarez's arm and tried to have a word with him, but the referees intervened and separated the two players.
Man U defender Rio Ferdinand, who was in line behind Evra, then refused to shake Suarez's hand when the Uruguayan reached him in the line. Ferdinand's own brother, Anton, was apparently the victim of racial abuse from Chelsea defender John Terry.
ESPN reported that the two clubs also got into a bit of a squabble in the stadium tunnel when leaving the pitch at halftime.
Manchester United won the match, 2-1, thanks to two goals from Wayne Rooney. Suarez scored Liverpool's only goal on the day.
According to the Guardian, after the match, Man U manager Sir Alex Ferguson said that Suarez should never play for the club again and labeled him a disgrace. From the paper:
"For a club with their history, I'd get rid of him, I really would," Ferguson said. "He is a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club. That player should not be allowed to play for Liverpool again. The history that club has got ... and he does that today. It could have caused a riot. I was really disappointed in that guy."
With the win, Man U goes top of the table with 58 points through 25 matches. Liverpool, meanwhile, falls to seventh place with 39 points.