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.<\/p>\n
Suarez was later found guilty of misconduct for insulting comments\u00a0referring to his opponent’s skin colour hurled at Evra by the Football Association and was suspended for eight matches.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Manchester United received so many threatening letters about me,\u201d Evra told the official Manchester United podcast.<\/p>\n
“People said: \u2018We\u2019re in jail, we\u2019re Liverpool fans. When we get out, we\u2019re going to kill you and your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
“For two months, I had security everywhere I went. They were sleeping in front of my house. Everywhere I went, the security followed me.<\/p>\n
“It was a tough time, but I wasn\u2019t scared. My family were scared: my wife and brother, but I wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
“I couldn\u2019t understand why people hated me so much. They didn\u2019t know the truth.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“I remember, during that game, I was talking to myself saying: \u2018If you punch him now, people will see you as the bad one, people will forget about what he said\u2019,\u201d he\u00a0recalled.<\/p>\n
“I was talking to myself: \u2018Don\u2019t do it…\u2019 I wasn\u2019t focused for the game.”<\/p>\n
Suarez has since said sorry\u00a0to Evra for the incident, with the two chatting prior to the 2015 Champions League final at their next clubs, Barcelona and Juventus, respectively.<\/p>\n
Since then, Liverpool had also extended their own apology for the ugly incident years later\u00a0– a gesture that Evra says he has great respect for.<\/p>\n
“I received an email from the chairman of Liverpool apologising for what happened nine years ago,” Evra\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
“He said I was welcome to come to Liverpool if I need anything. It really touched me because it\u2019s better late than never, but I was surprised that Liverpool supported that kind of attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"