Frank de Boer has described Luis Suárez as liable to do "stupid things" as he defended his former Ajax colleague's character and admitted he is surprised at the controversy the striker has generated at Liverpool.
Suárez's former club host Manchester United in the last 32 of the Europa League on Thursday night but Patrice Evra will not be present having been excluded from Sir Alex Ferguson's squad for the first leg, along with Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov.
The Liverpool striker remains a popular figure at Ajax even though he left the Dutch club in January last year while serving a seven-match suspension for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal. De Boer was assistant to Martin Jol at the time of that incident and manager when Suárez's £22.8m transfer to Anfield was completed.
Despite his admiration for the striker, the Ajax coach believes Suárez made a major mistake in refusing to shake Evra's hand at Old Trafford on Saturday. De Boer said: "We know Luis is a winner and he does everything to win. Sometimes he does some stupid things but I don't know the details of what happened in that specific game so I cannot comment. Outside of the pitch he is a fantastic person. For everything else, I cannot say. He does everything to win. I don't think it was very smart that he didn't shake the hand of Evra. It has put more attention on everything."
In a separate interview with Goal.com, De Boer claimed he does not believe Suárez would use racist language and said he hopes the Uruguay international, accused of misleading Liverpool over his intentions for the meeting with Evra by the club's managing director, Ian Ayre, will remain at Anfield.
He added: "It was not a wise thing to do [refuse Evra's hand]. There are always two sides to a story, but what has happened has hurt Suárez and Liverpool. That was a big mistake from him and from Liverpool. They knew that something like this could happen, and should have discussed it before. These kinds of things are bad for himself and for the club.
"I can't imagine that he actually said something racist, and I really hope that he didn't. He was punished for it, though, and I hope that he now stays at Liverpool. There is no doubt that he's a great player."
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