London, Nov. 22 French defender Patrice Evra has come out in defence of his team-mate Thierry Henry saying that a statue should be erected in honour of the handball cheat.

The Manchester United player claimed that Henry would have been a 'traitor' if he'd confessed to the referee he'd cheated Ireland out of a World Cup place.

"Frankly, if he had done that, I would have told him: 'Titi, you have betrayed us'. It's madness. We are arguing about Henry when we should be erecting a statue to him," News of the World quoted Evra, as saying.

Evra accused the French media of being hypocrites and politicians opportunists.

"But I just don't accept that people should attack our captain that way. If Titi had got that goal ruled out by going to see the ref and we had lost, the same people would have talked about his ego. They would have said: 'He is only thinking about himself, his image'," he said.

"Who would have gone to the ref to tell him? These people are hypocrites. When I think there are politicians who enjoy attacking us. They don't even know whether the ball is round or oval. They'll be the first to come and drink champagne in South Africa," he added.

Tired of continuous attacks on his team, Evra sums the whole episode up as a referee's error. Period.

"Of course, I'm angry. Titi doesn't deserve this. Who committed the error? The referee, full stop. I spoke to Titi on Thursday. He is disappointed. It is hard that people should attack him in France. (ANI)