Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has thrown light on the death threats he received from prisoners after the ugly racism incident with then-Liverpool striker Luis Suarez in 2011 which subsequently forced him to employ personal security after the warnings were issued.
Suarez was later found guilty of misconduct for insulting comments referring to his opponent’s skin colour hurled at Evra by the Football Association and was suspended for eight matches.
In the aftermath of the incident, Evra revealed that threats were sent to him, via the club, with many of the menacing messages coming from prisoners.
The France international left-back felt the immediate need to hire personal security guards to offer protection for himself and his family when notified of the warnings.
“Manchester United received so many threatening letters about me,” Evra told the official Manchester United podcast.
“People said: ‘We’re in jail, we’re Liverpool fans. When we get out, we’re going to kill you and your family.”
“For two months, I had security everywhere I went. They were sleeping in front of my house. Everywhere I went, the security followed me.
“It was a tough time, but I wasn’t scared. My family were scared: my wife and brother, but I wasn’t.
“I couldn’t understand why people hated me so much. They didn’t know the truth.”
The emotional instensity of the incident with Suarez had a profound and significant effect on Evra during the match after he informed referee Andre Marriner – who told the former Monaco player that the issue would be dealt with post-match.
Evra revealed he had to deliberately calm himself down to avoid unintentionally triggering off a physical confrontation with his Reds nemesis during the 90 minutes.
“I remember, during that game, I was talking to myself saying: ‘If you punch him now, people will see you as the bad one, people will forget about what he said’,” he recalled.
“I was talking to myself: ‘Don’t do it…’ I wasn’t focused for the game.”
Suarez has since said sorry to Evra for the incident, with the two chatting prior to the 2015 Champions League final at their next clubs, Barcelona and Juventus, respectively.
Since then, Liverpool had also extended their own apology for the ugly incident years later – a gesture that Evra says he has great respect for.
“I received an email from the chairman of Liverpool apologising for what happened nine years ago,” Evra said.
“He said I was welcome to come to Liverpool if I need anything. It really touched me because it’s better late than never, but I was surprised that Liverpool supported that kind of attitude.”