Evra reveals written apology from Liverpool nine years on from Suarez racism row

Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has revealed that Liverpool recently sent him a letter apologising for the race row with Luis Suarez nine years ago.

Evra was the victim of racist abuse from Suarez during a match between the two sides at Anfield in October 2011, leading to the Uruguay forward being banned for eight games and fined £40,000.

Despite the Football Association's verdict, Liverpool maintained Suarez was innocent and pledged to stand by him.

The club created further controversy when manager Kenny Dalglish and his players warmed up for a game wearing t-shirts displaying a picture of Suarez on the front and his name and number on the back to show their support.

One of those players, Jamie Carragher, apologised to Evra in October when the incident was being discussed while they were working as co-pundits on Sky Sports, admitting that the club made "a massive mistake".

And Evra says he was touched when Liverpool followed up with a letter from CEO Peter Moore a few days after his TV appearance.

"First of all, I was really pleased, like Jamie Carragher apologised, and of course I received a personal letter from Peter Moore and I was really touched about it," he said on Sky Sports .

"He told me that he hopes it's never too late because the incident happened nine years ago.

"I would say [I received the letter] like three days after the show, I was like: 'Thank you very much, this letter has really touched my heart'.

"I was really disappointed that such a big club like Liverpool would support a big cause like that, but now I can see that there are real people, honest people, working for this club and I even have more respect for Liverpool because they are fighting against problems for the human race.

"So I was really pleased and I just said: ‘I hope you’re not going to win the league’, but it was like three months ago.

"Actually it was really important for me and, like I say, we have a big rivalry between us but this shows you that Liverpool is a top class club."