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Barcelona striker Luis Suarez is "still sad and angry" about the criticism he received after being found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra, and believes former club Liverpool could have handled the whole affair much better. Suarez, then with Liverpool, was banned for eight matches and fined 40,000 pounds by the Football Association for using a racist term during an argument with Evra during a Premier League match against Manchester United in October 2011. The Uruguay international, though, insists that he is not racist -- and believes that Liverpool could have done more to help him during the controversy. In his autobiography Crossing The Line, being serialised in The Guardian, Suarez claims that his use of the offensive term "negro" was misunderstood. He wrote: "Did I use the Spanish word 'negro' in an argument that took place, in Spanish, with Patrice Evra on Oct. 15, 2011 in a game between Liverpool and Manchester United? Yes. "Is the word 'negro' the same in Spanish as it is in English? No, absolutely not. "Am I a racist? No, absolutely not. "I was horrified when I first realised that is what I was being accused of. And I'm still sad and angry to think that this is a stain on my character that will probably be there for ever." Suarez claims he was first became aware that he was facing an accusation of racism when he was approached after the game by Damien Comolli, then Liverpool's director of football. The 27-year-old wrote: "There had been an argument, but then I had probably had quite a few arguments during the game. Comolli said to me: 'Well, they are complaining about racism.' I was very surprised. "I recalled that the referee had called us over at one point. Evra had come looking for me at a corner asking me why I had kicked him. "It is always a bit hypocritical when a defender who spends the whole game kicking you complains of being kicked. "He initiated the argument and he chose to do so in Spanish. In the following exchanges between me and him I used the Spanish word 'negro' once. "What some people will never want to accept is that the argument took place in Spanish. I did not use the word 'negro' the way it can be used in English. "I told Comolli what had happened. He then told Kenny Dalglish [Liverpool's then-manager] and they both told the referee and it was that version that went to the hearing. "Why did I not go to the referee's room myself? Because nobody told me to and because I did not speak good English. I'm not saying this is Comolli's fault. Absolutely not. "He is the one who had to transmit exactly what I had said to the referee and there are intricacies and nuance in the language." Suarez added: "Once the formal letter from the FA had reached the club, I don't really think we knew the best way to go about dealing with it." After completing his suspension, Suarez made his first start for Liverpool in the return league fixture at Old Trafford in February 2012. There was further controversy when he refused to shake the hand of left-back Evra -- now with Juventus -- as the players lined up before the match. But Suarez explained: "As I was walking down the line, Evra was shaking everybody's hand, but he lowered his hand when I reached him. "Once I had passed him he started with the show of grabbing my arm and protesting that I hadn't shaken his hand. "And he looked towards Sir Alex Ferguson to see if Daddy was watching. If it was a trap, I fell into it."
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