Manchester United vs. Liverpool: Suarez & Evra Controversy Takes Center Stage

As the build for the match continued all week long, everyone knew that the rivalry clash between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford would be one of the biggest in a long time.

Their places in the table were not their fighting point however, with the Reds far behind in seventh while Untied continue to fight for their title hopes at the top.

The real talking point was how the off-field controversy between United's Patrice Evra and Liverpool's Luis Suarez would affect the match. The continued discussion of the racial abuse problem in football has been at the center stage of much of the English Football Association's dealings all season and will surely continue to be so.

With the issue between Suarez and Evra having been hashed to death in the media, what truly came of it was an eight-match ban for the Liverpool man as punishment.

Last Monday, Suarez returned from his eight-match ban only a week away from the club's trip to face their hated rivals in Manchester at Old Trafford.

The gravity of the situation was frustrating from the get-go at the first handshake. Last season, Kenny Dalglish made a comment that, "No player is bigger than the club." However, Suarez violated that before the whistle blew.

Despite the fact that he felt aggrieved, when it came down to it, he had the chance to be the bigger man, worry about the match and just leave it be. He had served his punishment and was allowed to return to action with a clear slate, but that did not matter.

In the United line, Evra was first as the team captain and as he reached up, Suarez avoided his handshake. As Evra grabbed to shake the Liverpool man's hand, another United defender, Rio Ferdinand, avoided the Uruguayan's handshake as well.

The shunning was presumably in support of Evra as well as his younger brother Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers, who is involved in his own controversy with Chelsea's John Terry who was stripped of the England National Team's Captaincy this week.

As the first half came to a close, there thankfully appeared to be no major instances that would affect the match on the pitch. Then, Suarez made his most vicious strike on the ball of the first 45 minutes as he sliced the ball into the crowd at the whistle.

It had been a solid half of football from both sides and they looked set for a great battle in the second half, but as the two sides went through the tunnel to the dressing room there was apparently another confrontation between players.

Following the half, Manchester United ran riot for about five minutes to take a 2-0 lead thanks to a great Wayne Rooney Volley and a poor giveaway by Liverpool's Jay Spearing that allowed Rooney to be put through on goal again to score his second.

From that point on, Liverpool barely managed to do anything and it looked like the fight had gone out of them.

Suarez had another blasted kick at a ball to knock it out of bounds right in front of Patrice Evra with the ESPN2 camera angle making look more like a strike at Evra than just kicking a ball out of bounds with a little extra frustration.

Kenny Dalglish's side appeared to have gone completely flat and United were running the show. It took three substitutions bringing on Andy Carroll, Craig Bellamy and Charlie Adam before the Red got a lucky break.

A poor free kick from Adam, one of many poor Liverpool set piece moves of the day, bounced off a United defender and fell to Suarez who lashed it into goal with 10 minutes left, making it 2-1 for a Liverpool side that should have been dead to rights for their lack of effort and poor performance most of the match.

However, there was still little scramble from the Reds to get back in it and as the match drew to a close, it finished with United on top.

As Luis Suarez was walking to the tunnel, Patrice Evra, whom had seemed composed for much of the match, went arm flailing and celebrating in front of the Uruguayan who at that point seemed to finally not care anymore.

The rest of the Liverpool team were not happy with Evra's taunting, as Pepe Reina was one of the first to usher the French defender away from his fellow player and give him a talking to while the stewards, match officials and others got involved.

Before it was over, referee Phil Dowd was telling Liverpool Manager Kenny Dalglish and the rest of the players to head down the tunnel and had them holding back Evra until the other side had gone down the tunnel.

The event truly was marred by the antics of both Suarez and Evra. Suarez should have been big enough to shake Evra's hand and go on with his business. He was there for his club, not to get back at someone.

Likewise, Evra should have just let the missed handshake go and went on about it as well. Both players are at fault regardless of whom is more guilty.

All in all, it was an unfortunate thing to see from either player as they are representatives of two of the most storied clubs in the history of the game. Their behavior truly ruined what should have been a great match between two old rivals.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out more on Bleacher Report and at the links below. You can follow me on Twitter @thedailyatz and Facebook, or visit my website.