Suarez thanks fans for support

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is grateful to fans of former clubs Ajax and Nacional for the support they showed during their matches on Thursday.

The forward has been under intense media scrutiny for his refusal to shake Patrice Evra’s hand before Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Manchester United last weekend.

The Uruguayan was returning from an eight-match ban for allegedly racially abusing the Frenchman, a matter over which he has protested his innocence throughout.

On Thursday night, Ajax fans sang songs for Suarez while banners were carried by Uruguayan side Nacional players and displayed by their supporters throughout their loss to Libertad in the Copa Libertadores.

One banner translated to: ‘Wash your mouth out Ferguson before talking about Suarez’, while another read: ‘Suarez is from Nacional. Evra must be from (arch-rivals) Penarol’.

Suarez wrote on Twitter: “I want to say thanks for the great support that the Liverpool fans have given me in these last days.”

“I would like to say thanks again to fans of Ajax for what (they) did today.”

“As you know I am Uruguayan, and I defend the selection team, so I want to say thanks too (sic) the fans, players and managers of NACIONAL for their great support today!”

“A million THANKS for everybody!”

Suarez also received the support of Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica, who said: “Our solidarity is with Suarez, that wonderful boy who in a football field has given us so much joy, because first of all we love him.”

“He’s a child born from poverty who’s leagues away from having received academic training in diplomatic protocol.”

“He’s great in a football field because he has in him the wonderful miracle of that art and he does not deserve the media pressure in which they have put him through, because we clearly know that he wasn’t, isn’t and will never be racist.”