http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/25/luis-suarez-liverpool-patrice-evra?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Ffootball%2Frss+%28Football%29Luis Suárez has reopened the controversy surrounding his race row with Patrice Evra by revealing his conscience is "completely calm" over events at Anfield on 15 October last year and accusing the Football Association of wanting "to get rid of a Liverpool player".
The Uruguay forward served an eight-match suspension this year after being found guilty of racially abusing the Manchester United defender by an independent panel appointed by the FA. Suárez and Liverpool did not appeal against the decision, despite protestations from the club over the process that led to him being charged.
Suárez caused further problems for Liverpool and the then manager Kenny Dalglish when he refused to shake Evra's hand in the return league fixture at Old Trafford in February. That prompted a series of apologies from Liverpool, Suárez and Dalglish, but the striker has never apologised to Evra personally for what occurred at Anfield in October and, in an interview with Russia Today, claims he has no cause to.
"The suspension, I suppose, you could call strange and unbelievable," said Suárez. "Without a single shred of proof, they suspended me. I accepted it without saying anything obviously because they could have made [the suspension] longer and it would have just made the whole thing continue, but my conscience is completely calm, and so is that of the club and my family.
"There was not a single convincing proof that I had done any of the things they accused me of doing. I am very calm about all of it. I have played all my childhood and everyone knows that in Uruguay there is a huge black population. I had team-mates and friends of both colours all the time in the national team, in Liverpool, in Holland, where the majority [of players] are from Surinam, and I never had any problem with them.
"Holland is one of the countries in the world where there is the highest number of black players and at no point was there an issue. Well, these are the things about football. It seems to me that they had to get rid of a Liverpool player and, well, they definitely were gratified by all of this."
Liverpool's owner, Fenway Sports Group, sacked the long-serving head of communications Ian Cotton this month after a season that attracted fierce criticism of the club's handling of the Suárez affair. The striker, however, claims his wife bore the brunt of the fallout. "She has suffered more than anyone during this," he said, and is unconcerned about the damage to his reputation or the reaction of opposition crowds.
He added: "What the English press has said about me does not interest me. What interests me is what they say about me in Uruguay and in Liverpool, and they have always been very supportive.
"After the suspension was confirmed, I was told that the fans would taunt me, they would whistle me, insult me and shout at me, but to be honest it is not something I was worried about or paid attention to. Everyone whistled me in all of the stadiums I played in all the time anyway, even before the allegation of racism. It was just the same. I tried to pay it as little attention as possible to focus on what I like to do, which is to play."
