Liverpool have chosen not to appeal against Luis Suarez’s racism ban

Liverpool announced on this day in 2012 that they will not appeal against Luis Suarez’s eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

The original incident occurred in Liverpool’s 1–1 draw with United on 15 October 2011. Suarez was found to have racially abused Evra, who was marking the Uruguayan before a free-kick.

Suarez was charged by the Football Association and eventually received an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine, the verdict of which was handed down on 20 December.

A day later, Liverpool caused controversy when they wore shirts in support of the striker during the warm-up for their Premier League game at Wigan.

But despite this, Liverpool ultimately did not appeal against Suarez’s penalty, although they announced their decision in a strong statement, which criticized both the verdict and the FA’s handling of the situation .

“It is our firm belief that the Football Association and the panel it selected built a highly subjective case against Luis Suarez based on an allegation that was ultimately unfounded,” the statement read.

“The FA and the panel have consistently and methodically chosen to accept and embrace the arguments that led to a set of conclusions that found Mr. Suarez “likely” to be guilty, and in the same way they decided to completely reject the testimony that contradicted their general assumptions.

“Mr Evra was found credible despite admitting that he himself had used insulting and threatening words towards Luis and that his original allegation about the word used was somehow a mistake.”

The bad feeling continued when Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand ahead of the return leg between the teams in February.

However, the pair would shake hands before a Champions League match between Suarez’s Barcelona and Evra’s Juventus in 2015.

In 2019, when Evra appeared as a pundit on Sky Sports, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher apologized to the Frenchman for wearing the shirt supporting Suarez at Wigan, and Evra later revealed that he also received a letter of apology from the club.