Luis Suarez Prolongs The Strife Instead of Burying The Axe

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February 13, 2012 | by Pangeran Siahaan

Luis Suarez (L) exchange words with Patrice Evra (R) during their match on October 15. (AFP Photo)

I saw it. You saw it. Everybody saw it but a bunch of honorable people who see things in MerseyRed-tinted spectacles. By refusing to handshake Patrice Evra before the match in Old Trafford, Luis Suarez has tarnished his reputation even further. Sir Alex Ferguson went awfully mad in his post-match conference. He described the Uruguayan as a disgrace to a club with long history like Liverpool and suggested that Suarez should not be allowed to play for Liverpool again.

Kenny Dalglish, to anyone’s surprise, disputes the fact of what had just happened by telling, “I never knew Suarez refused to shake his hand. That is contrary to what I was told. I wasn’t there, I never saw it”. He went on and reckoned that it was “bang out of order” to blame everything happened that day on Suarez. His statement was shocking because days prior to the match, Dalglish said that he had spoken to Suarez and he knew that the striker would shake the hand of Patrice Evra and other Manchester United players. It seems like your words have fallen into a deaf ear, King Kenny.

All Suarez had to do is shake Evra’s hand, for the sake of goodwill. He wasn’t asked to publish a full-page of apology in national newspapers or record a one-minute pardon plea on TV. Evra himself told Ferguson earlier that day that he had nothing to be ashamed of and would shake Suarez’s hand. Suarez refused.

Ever since the incident happened, I've been trying to fit in Suarez’s mind frame and to think using his logic. Why would he refuse a goodwill gesture from a player who’s been a victim of my racial abuse and I have served punishment for it? The only logical and prejudiced reason behind it is because Suarez was deeply upset by the accusation made against him in which he’s found guilty by the FA. I believe that until this day he still claims he's innocent because he wouldn’t do such disgraceful action had he felt the other way.

What happened in Old Trafford is nothing like the handshake incident when Wayne Bridge snubbed John Terry in the line-up between Manchester City and Chelsea a couple of seasons ago. Bridge skipped Terry, who had found to have an affair with Bridge’s ex-girlfriend. And the former English captain wasn’t bothered at all before proceeding to the next man.

Another handshake-related incident happened more than a decade ago when Manchester United was pitted against Inter Milan in the Champions League. That was the first meeting of David Beckham and Diego Simeone since the Argentine’s Oscar-worthy theatrical action gave Beckham a red card in the World Cup the previous year. There was a concern of possible altercation between those two but Simeone shook Beckham’s hand anyway even though he did it so hard, it looked more like a slap on the palm rather than a noble handshake.

Seeing how spirited Simeone was, Scholes who stood next to Beckham was chuckled, but Rio Ferdinand wasn’t impressed at all by Suarez’s antics and he snubbed the Uruguayan in revenge.

It’s pretty understandable to see Evra’s victory celebration after the final whistle even though the way he moved near Suarez could be deemed as provocative. Ferguson acknowledged that maybe it would have been better if Evra saved his victory dance for later although it’s clearly seen that what Evra was doing is sharing his delight with the fans at the Stretford End.

I don’t know what’s left for Suarez. He’s undisputedly a talented and excellent footballer, but his erratic behavior is just too much to bear, even for Liverpool fans. What was more sad is the way some people with out-of-place fanaticism try to defend Suarez and justify his actions considering John Barnes, former Liverpool striker in the 80s was once pictured back-heeling a banana skin thrown at him.

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