Race row rocks Liverpool after derby

LIVERPOOL face a potential repeat of the infamous Luis Suarez race case after referee Bobby Madley’s report on a stormy Merseyside derby reached the FA with an allegation from Everton’s Mason Holgate that he was racially abused by Roberto Firmino.

Madley’s report will be scrutinised by the FA’s off-pitch disciplinary department — dubbed their integrity team.

Holgate, accompanied by manager Sam Allardyce and director of football Steve Walsh, went to see Madley after Friday’s FA Cup tie at Anfield and claimed he had heard Firmino use the word ‘negro’ following a heated exchange between the pair after 41 minutes.

Holgate’s initial push on Firmino sent the Liverpool forward over the advertising hoardings and after he scrambled to his feet, the furious Brazilian sprinted over to Holgate.

TV pictures appeared to capture him hollering ‘filho da puta’ (Portuguese for son of a whore) before the camera view was accidentally obscured by another player.

Madley was present when the exchanges happened, stepping in to try and separate the players, and it is also possible the fourth official would have heard everything through the open communication channels between himself and the referee. Dialogue on headsets is not recorded, however.

The incident is the last thing Liverpool would have wanted following Suarez’s eight-match ban in 2011 for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra despite a proactive support campaign from the club that included the Uruguayan’s Anfield team-mates wearing T-shirts in his honour.