Patrice Evra has revealed his fury at being dropped by Sir Alex Ferguson for the 2007 FA Cup final, to the point where he refused to shake his hand – an action that later led to an apology from the Scot.
Ferguson told the former Manchester United full-back that he was omitting him from the squad in the lead-up to the final, with Evra admitting he thought his coach was kidding around to begin with.
But the United boss had actually meant what he said and swapped Evra out of his starting XI for Gabriel Heinze – a decision that angered Evra to the point that he threw his runners-up medal away in disgust.
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Evra told the Overlap podcast: “In 2007, we had the FA Cup final at Wembley against Chelsea and I remember the day before the game, Sir Alex Ferguson told me that I wasn’t going to be playing.
“There was an article in the papers saying that I was a drug dealer, a fighter and that I was part of a gang, so the boss told me that he couldn’t play me in the final because the Glazers told him to leave me out. He turned around and told me that he was joking and that I would be playing on the left with Cristiano Ronaldo.
“The next day, I got a knock on the door and it was the boss telling me that he wasn’t going to play me and that he was going to start Gabriel Heinze instead. After five minutes of the final, he told me to warm up, but I never came on and I was fuming. I took my medal and threw it on the floor. The boss came to shake my hand and I didn’t shake his hand.”
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(Image: Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
United were gutted after losing the FA Cup final 1-0, with Chelsea’s Didier Drogba bagging the crucial goal in the 116th minute of extra time to give the Blues the silverware.
And it seemed like Ferguson realised he had made an error, and later apologised to Evra – who claims at the time that he was considering leaving United over the snub – and also subbed him back into the starting line-up.
Adding that he did in fact get the last laugh, Evra said: “Two weeks later, he called me to say sorry. He said he made a mistake. After that game, I called my agent and told him I didn’t want to play for United anymore and that it was disrespectful. This was the moment I was going to leave United.”
Despite all this drama, the Frenchman ended up staying at United and went on to captain the side – winning five Premier League titles to boot. He also won the Champions League, three League Cups and four Community Shields during his time at the club.