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Former Liverpool FC striker Luis Suarez has once more denied he was racist towards Patrice Evra – and feels the club could have done more once he was accused.

Suarez was banned for eight games and fined £40,000 following his clash with Evra in October 2011, with the Football Association finding him guilty of racially abusing the Manchester United defender.

But in his autobiography Crossing the Line – currently being serialised in a national newspaper – Suarez says his use of the word 'negro' was misunderstood, and the Reds didn't do enough to help his case.

“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. The lawyers took control of the case,” he writes.

“They said that it would be two or three games if any, as if the number of games rather than clearing my name was the most important thing.

“Looking at it now with a cooler head, I don’t think we handled it well.

“We were not able to put across that this word was used in Spanish and that it has nothing to do with the 'negro' word as it is pronounced and used in English.”

Suarez, who moved to Barcelona from Liverpool in a £75m move this summer, calls the ban a “stain on his character”.

He also reveals what happened in the aftermath of the game, with Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli acting as mouthpieces for the Uruguayan.

“I told Comolli what had happened. He then told Kenny Dalglish and they both told the referee and it was that version that went to the hearing,” he writes.

“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 missed eight games for the Reds after receiving the ban in December 2011 and made his first start after the suspension against United in February 2012.

He was embroiled in further controversy when he appeared to refuse to shake Evra's hand pre-match – something he also denies.

“As I was walking down the line, Evra was shaking everybody’s hand, but he lowered his hand when I reached him,” he adds.

“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.”