Only race we’re interested in is for title – Evans

Just when it was hard to believe Luis Suarez and Liverpool Football Club could handle the fallout from last October’s race controversy any more badly, along came the battle of Old Trafford.

Even for a fixture that has become a by-word for hostility, aggression, bile and — it has to be said — pure drama and football excellence in recent years, this was an explosive occasion from the moment, in the pre-match handshake line, that Suarez snubbed Patrice Evra, the man he was found guilty of racially abusing four months ago.

Thereafter, as police and stewards moved to disperse confrontations between rival players in the tunnel at half-time and at the final whistle — two flashpoints from which Evra did not emerge with any credit — the football was always going to be secondary.