The defender has addressed the breakout which happened eight years ago.

Former Manchester United left back Patrice Evra has come clean on his spat with Luis Suarez after the Uruguay called him a 'n****' in 2011. The French defender accused the then-Liverpool striker of racially abusing him during a Premier League clash between Manchester United and the Reds at Anfield.

The incident was one the dominated headlines during the period with Luis Suarez suffering the consequences by being hit with an eight-game ban and fined £40,000. This came after the Barcelona forward had admitted to using the word albeit insisting it was not in a racist context. The striker will go on to fuel the feud by refusing to shake Evra's hand in the pre-match presentation when Liverpool and Manchester United met in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford in February 2012.

Nevertheless, Evra - who announced his retirement from football last week - revealed that there is no bad blood between him and Suarez. The Frenchman admitted that he wanted to punch him at the time but has buried the hatchet.

"I don't know if Suarez is a racist. I don't know his family. I don't know his background. But racism is so big for so many years and that day, there was racist abuse." Evra told the Daily Mail.

"So when we went to the hearing, they listened to me because I said I didn't want them to punish him and I don't know him close enough to say he is racist but he used that racist word.

"I don't hate him. I never hated him. I wanted to punch him at the time but for me to hate someone is impossible.

"I don't have hate in my heart. I can react but hate is a strong word for me. When I was asked to pick a team of my best players, I named Suarez as one of my XI."