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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Nathan Ridley

Patrice Evra responds to Luis Suarez's tears as Uruguay are dumped out of World Cup

Patrice Evra cheekily liked a photo of Luis Suarez crying after Uruguay were dumped out of the World Cup in humiliating fashion.

Suarez's nation beat Ghana 2-0 in their final Group H fixture on Friday but failed to qualify for the knockout stage due to having scored less goals over their three games than underdogs South Korea. Uruguay's surprise elimination left the former Liverpool hero in tears while sat on his team's bench, having been subbed off at a point when the Sky Blues were on course to make the last 16.

But after South Korea stunningly managed a 91st-minute winner against Portugal to record a famous comeback victory, two-time World Cup winners Uruguay - who felt aggrieved by refereeing decisions during their match - were condemned to their first group-stage exit in 20 years.

Evra didn't miss the opportunity to indulge in Suarez's misfortune, continuing the pair's feud after the ex- Manchester United stalwart was found to have been racially abused by the Uruguayan during a Premier League clash between their old teams in October 2011.

As images of Suarez's tears went viral, Evra hit like on football brand 443's post showcasing the 137-time capped Uruguay international's misery. Despite the pair's racism row, which resulted in Suarez being banned for eight games and fined £40,000, the now-retired Frenchman insists that he doesn't "hate" his former foe and is reluctant to label him as a racist.

"I don't know him close enough to call him a racist," Evra told the Times last year. "I know he used some racist words, I know when it was the moment to make peace, he didn't. But when we [ Juventus ] played Barcelona in the Champions League Final [in 2015], he shakes my hand and I shake his hand.

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"Hate will never be in my heart. I don't hate the teacher that [sexually] abused me [in school]. That's the crazy part of it. If you want to be racist, this is your choice. Is it going to make you happier? Instead of blaming racists, I want to understand where they are coming from. No-one is born a racist. It's about education. Maybe they have been traumatised. We should talk with them.

"I don't think we make big steps because we are forgetting about education. Every week in football we have more incidents, maybe because when you blame them, they become more hyper. If I ban you because you are racist you will never change, but someone needs to try to understand why you are racist."

Luis Suarez was found to have racially abused Patrice Evra during a Premier League match in October 2011 (Getty)

The ex-United left-back also revealed on the Diary of a CEO Podcast last year that he crossed paths with Suarez on a Manchester street in the aftermath of the 2011 incident. "One day I was walking in Manchester in Deansgate and my brother said, 'It's Luis Suarez over there'," Evra revealed.

"I looked at him and I was like 'that's it, this is the moment'. And he walked, and behind him I saw his kids and his wife. I turned my back. I was like 'if you do something to him you can't do this in front of his family'. So I don't regret it because I think it would have ended up bad. I did nothing that day."

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