Manchester United 2 - 1 Liverpool: Luis Suarez branded a ‘disgrace’

The United captain offered his hand to the Uruguay international, who was banned for eight matches for racially abusing the defender, but he bypassed the Frenchman and went straight to goalkeeper David de Gea. Evra did not accept that and attempted to grab Suarez’s arm to complete the formalities, but the striker shrugged him off. Both sets of players reportedly clashed in the tunnel at half-time and again on the pitch as United celebrated their 2-1 victory.

On Suarez’s refusal to shake Evra’s hand, Ferguson said: “I could not believe it, I just could not believe it. He’s a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club, that certain player should not be allowed to play for Liverpool again.

“The history that club’s got and he does that and in a situation like today could have caused a riot. I was really disappointed in that guy, it was terrible what he did.”

Ferguson added: “It created a tension, you’ve seen the referee didn’t know what to do about it. It caught him off guard. It was a terrible start to the game, a terrible atmosphere it created.”

Asked if the pre-match handshakes should have been scrapped for the game as it was last month when John Terry and Anton Ferdinand faced each other, he said: “That’s a different issue altogether. It’s never been a problem really up until this situation regarding racism, it’s never been a problem. We’ve got to get our house in order in terms of fighting racism. It’s an important issue.

“Football’s come a long way from the days of John Barnes when they were throwing bananas at him to where we are today. We can’t go back. We have to go forward in a positive way and ban it altogether.”

Evra enthusiastically celebrated the win in front of Suarez at the end and Ferguson added: “He shouldn’t have done that.”

Rio Ferdinand, who was next in line to De Gea at the pre-match handshakes, refused to shake Suarez’s hand.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish launched a furious defence of his player following the match. The Scot, who has backed his player throughout the whole saga, said: “I never knew he never shook his hand. I don’t know, I wasn’t there, I never saw it. We haven’t looked at the handshakes, but that’s contrary to what I was told.” When told Suarez had refused to shake Evra’s hand, he added: “We’ll ask him and we’ll take it from there.”

When pressed further by Sky Sports interviewer Geoff Shreeves on whether he would have to look seriously at the refusal to shake hands, Dalglish said: “I think you’re very severe and I think you’re bang out of order to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened here today.

“I think predominantly both sets of fans behaved really well, they had a bit of banter between each other, no problem. How many bookings were there?”

Amid the rancour, United emerged with three precious points as Wayne Rooney’s second-half double sent them top of the Premier League. But they had to survive a nervy ten minutes at the end after Suarez’s close-range finish had halved the deficit.

Ferdinand might not have thought so, but it was probably just as well he bore the brunt of Evra’s intended challenge on Suarez inside the first minute, otherwise the United skipper would have been in trouble.

The game got stuck in a midfield scrap after that but, in the final minute of the first half, Ferdinand sent Suarez to the deck with a tackle TV replays showed was perfectly legal. Suarez felt differently and when referee Phil Dowd refused to award the free-kick that would surely have brought Ferdinand’s dismissal, he reacted furiously. Booting the ball at towards the dug-out as the half-time whistle blew, Suarez had to be escorted down the tunnel by team-mates.

Once inside though, the whole thing exploded once more, with Evra apparently intent on confronting the Uruguayan, with players from both sides involved in a melee that required police intervention.

United got an ideal start to the second half when Jordan Henderson could only get the faintest of touches to Ryan Giggs’ curling corner and sent the ball straight to Rooney, who swept home his shot.

The home fans barely had time to catch their breath before Rooney struck again. This time, Liverpool only had themselves to blame as Jay Spearing gave possession to Valencia in a dangerous area. Valencia found Rooney and the United man netted.

Rooney was denied a hat-trick when a brilliant effort was ruled out for an earlier foul by Jonny Evans.

Suarez gave the visitors hope when he was on hand to finish off after United’s defence got in a tangle as they tried to clear Charlie Adam’s free-kick and the ball bounced kindly off Ferdinand.

Welbeck would have eased a few nerves if he had not wasted a good chance on United’s next attack. However, after an excellent save from de Gea to deny Johnson in stoppage time and Suarez missing from close range when he was offside anyway, the hosts held on to claim a valuable win.