Patrice Evra has revealed how former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and midfielder Paul Scholes ripped into Nani following a match against Liverpool - despite the winger being on the receiving end of a shocking tackle from Jamie Carragher.
The late challenge from the former Reds number 23 occurred during a Premier League match at Anfield back in March 2011 that Liverpool won 3-1 thanks to a Dirk Kuyt hat-trick.
Carragher's studs up challenge left Nani with blood flowing from his shin. The Portuguese had to be substituted after being stretchered off.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp has already signed player for vital Liverpool role Roberto Firmino has grown into
READ MORE: Jamie Carragher sends Kylian Mbappe blunt transfer message after PSG Champions League exit
Left-back Evra, who was in the United side at the time, went over initially to defend Nani, but his team-mates became uninterested after seeing him crying on the pitch.
"You remember Anfield when Nani got tackled by Jamie Carragher?' Evra quizzed ex-Red Devils centre-back Rio Ferdinand on his podcast FIVE. "I remember he got butchered he nearly broke his leg.
"We started fighting with Liverpool players, Steven Gerrard, and then Scholsey [Paul Scholes] came and he saw Nani crying. He said, 'f*** that, let's go'.
"After that Ferguson gave him two weeks off because he says he needed to recover from that because we were waiting for him because in that team we didn't care we were ready to kill him.
"Because you know someone crying at Anfield... and even Ferguson, you remember when he said, 'I hope your legs are f*****g broken, I really hope your legs are broken'.
"Ferguson always wanted to kill Nani when he was falling on the floor, saying you can't be a United player and doing that."
Carragher, who escaped with a booking, later said: "Not one of my finer moments. A bit of a dive from Nani. I tell you what my best memory of that is, not so much the tackle, Wayne Rooney's reaction.
"I was on favourable terms with the referee Phil Dowd and I got him on my own, pulled him in, and I said, 'he just beat me with skill'.
"Everyone else was fighting, I got him over as you do, experienced pro, and then Wayne Rooney came over and said, 'you won't believe it, he's crying.'"
And in his Telegraph column, Carragher wrote: "My thought process was skewed and I got it badly wrong, mistiming my tackle in a way which looked awful. I felt terrible when I watched it back.
"I could not sleep that night, my mind preoccupied with the horrendous tackle and the public response to it. It appalled me to think my reputation might be sullied by one incident after the hundreds of robust but fair tackles in my career.
"I was relieved Nani was not seriously hurt, because I have never met a player who wants the thought of damaging a fellow professional’s career on their conscience."
READ NEXT:
- John Henry and Jurgen Klopp have pointed out glaring Man United mistake that Liverpool have avoided
Jurgen Klopp may finally have replaced Sadio Mane with devastating new Liverpool partnership
Liverpool may have found Virgil van Dijk successor if he can overcome Ibrahima Konate issue
Liverpool can't compete with Premier League 'Big Six' but Darwin Nunez has proven they don't need to
