FA investigation launched
Liverpool say that Luiz Suarez categorically denies the accusation of racism made against him by Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
GettyImagesPatrice Evra battles Luis Suarez
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• FA to investigate Evra claims
During Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Anfield, the players were involved in a lengthy dispute and Evra was booked by referee Andre Marriner. In post-match, Evra told Canalplus: “There are cameras, you can see him. He says a certain word to me at least 10 times.
“I was very upset. In 2011 you can’t say things like this. He knows what he said, the ref knows it, it will come out. I won’t repeat what he said, but it was a racist word, and he said it more than 10 times. He tried to wind me up. I won’t make a huge deal out of it, but it’s very upsetting and disappointing.”
An FA investigation has now been launched, and a statement was released late on Saturday night.
“The FA have this evening been made aware of an incident that is alleged to have occurred during the Liverpool versus Manchester United fixture at Anfield today,” it read. “Referee Andre Marriner was made aware of an allegation at the end of the fixture and reported this to the FA. The FA will now begin making inquiries into the matter.”
Liverpool then moved to deflect the claims. “The first we knew about these allegations was 20 minutes after the final whistle when the manager (Kenny Dalglish) was asked to go into the referee’s office and told about them,” a spokesman said. “The first thing we did, as you would expect, is ask the player and he has categorically denied using any language of that nature.”
Reports suggest that Dalglish was summoned after Sir Alex Ferguson had accompanied Evra to the referees’ room and consulted with fourth official Phil Dowd.