Patrice Evra admits he had to restrain himself from punching Luis Suarez after their racist incident.
The Manchester United defender accused the Uruguayan of directing racist abuse at him during a clash with Liverpool at Anfield in November 2011.
Suarez would be found guilty and banned for eight games a month later but Evra's immediate reaction was to hit his opponent.
Only the fear of being banned himself and setting a bad example for all those watching that prevented him from doing so.
He told United's official website : “The referee [Andre Marriner] came over and asked what was happening with us two. He’d seen my eyes change and he asked if I was okay. I told him he racially abused me and he said: ‘Okay, we’ll talk after the game. Keep playing and don’t do anything silly’.
“I remember, during that game, I was talking to myself saying: ‘If you punch him now, people will see you as the bad one. People will forget about what he said’. I was talking to myself: ‘Don’t do… do it…’ I wasn’t focused for the game.
“I can do my job - I could have punched him on the pitch, but what would I have got? Maybe banned for two years? In front of all the kids and all the people watching the game."
Evra was subjected to death threats after the incident on Merseyside and had security follow him around for two months.
But he admits it was the toll it took on his family, not himself, that was the toughest part.
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He added: ”After it was in the papers, and Manchester United received so many threatening letters about me. People said: ‘We’re in jail, we’re Liverpool fans. When we get out, we’re going to kill you and your family’.
"For two months, I had security everywhere I went. They were sleeping in front of my house. Everywhere I went, the security followed me. It was a tough time, but I wasn’t scared.
"My family were scared: my wife and brother, but I wasn’t. I couldn’t understand why people hated me so much. They didn’t know the truth.”
