Luis Suarez vs. Patrice Evra Will Escalate Liverpool-Manchester United Hatred

Luis Suarez received an eight-match ban as well as fine for actions toward Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra during Manchester United and Liverpool's October 15th game.

This whole affair—whether it goes beyond this point or not—will serve only to escalate the hatred in this famous rivalry. How the two clubs, the players and their fans react will go a long way to determining just how much things will escalate. The media will also have an effect on events.

Both managers, Sir Alex Ferguson and Kenny Daglish, are being supportive of their players, as to be expected, and it is likely that they will be the ones trying to calm any storms.

They will continue to support their man, but as representatives of the clubs it is unlikely that they will be hurling insults at their counterparts or his player.

It seems the same cannot be said of their employers at the moment. Whether either player or their club is right or wrong—I am not here to argue for either side— Liverpool is doing a lot more to aggravate Manchester United right now.

The Liverpool administration issued a statement discounting the credibility of both the FA and Patrice Evra and that will certainly provide some ammo to United's side of things. As one part of the statement says,

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"We find it extraordinary that Luis can be found guilty on the word of Patrice Evra alone when no-one else on the field of play - including Evra's own Manchester United teammates and all the match officials - heard the alleged conversation between the two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth while a corner kick was about to be taken."

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Still, no one has seen the commission's official reasoning on the matter, and Liverpool's refusal to accept the charges and in turn question the character of an opposition player will not go down well.

The players themselves could add even more fuel to the fire.

As an article on Goal.com points out, both Suarez and Evra could drag this story out even further off the pitch with Suarez appealing the matter and Evra suing for defamation of character.

These two will have a personal feud that carries over to the teammates in such a way that may damage the football aspect of the very next game they play. That game will be in Manchester in February, by the way.

There is already enough animosity in this rivalry that it need not be sparked even more by a racial issue, but that point has gone and now we have to wait and see if things will get even worse.

Off the pitch, the fans will have a say in things as well.

While the majority of supporters of these clubs are white and British, they will defend their own, and both Suarez and Evra are among the most favored players at their respective clubs.

There have been numerous incident involving fans in the past and the passion of these fans may create a dangerous situation. This is not to say that I believe fans will fly off the handle to support their stars in an instant, but it is a possibility.

After all, there are fans of both clubs that are of similar ethnicity to the players in question and it only takes one instance for some taunt or otherwise to make things get out of hand.

The media's involvement will have an effect as well. The media will continue to follow this story as long as new information appears, and it will serve to only keep it in the forefront of people's minds.

The pre-match build up is a long way away, but it is likely for the next few games at least, commentators will be stating their various thoughts on the matter in a Manchester United game or a Liverpool game.

For now, we will have to wait and see what happens. Will Manchester United react in any way to Liverpool's accusation of their player? Will the players themselves continue this affair in court to prove they are in the right? And just how will this affect the teammates and the fans?

This incident is already having an effect on this rivalry and if things continue to go on in a negative manner, the hostility between the two clubs will continue to escalate.