After the fuss, the ban, the calls for a line to be drawn under it and for everyone to focus on the football, Luis Suarez, returning for Liverpool today after an 8-match ban following him racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra, opted to not shake hands with Evra before today's match between the two old rivals.
The pre-match handshake is a recent innovation in Premier League games, having been adopted from internationals and the Champions' League. Last weekend, when John Terry and Anton Ferdinand faced each other in a match, the FA told Chelsea and QPR to not shake hands - but that case, with police charges and a court case due n July, is still very much live. The Evra/Suarez issue is, supposedly, over and settled. far from it, it seems.
As he moved along the line, Suarez shook hands with the match officials and then opted to miss Evra out. Evra grabbed for Suarez's hand, but Suarez withdrew it, spurning the offer of peace from Evra. It was a good job the match officials were close otherwise this could have turned even more nasty.
Surely, though, Suarez ungentlemanly conduct should resulted in a booking?
Quite what effect this will have on the game, who knows! By the time most read this, the result will be known, but, clearly, Suarez still feels victimised by the charges and the suspension, even though he was found guilty by the FA of racially abusing Evra. Liverpool's insistence that he should never have been banned, the players wearing provocative t-shirts supporting him a few weeks ago, and Kenny Dalglish's utterances on the matter won't have helped Suarez realise that his racism is unacceptable in society.
Let's hope the match is a good one, but let's hope the FA look at the handshake before and have another little word with Suarez.
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