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The FA will launch an inquiry after Everton’s Mason Holgate claimed he was racially abused during the Merseyside derby.

Just before half time in the pulsating FA Cup tie at Anfield the Blues defender pushed Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino into an advertising hoarding after a tussle.

The Brazilian angrily ran at his opponent and shouted animatedly at him ...which left Holgate immediately claiming on the pitch to team-mates and referee Bobby Madley that the Liverpool player had used racist language.

Ref Madley confirmed later to both clubs that he would include details of the incident and subsequent allegations in his report, after reporting it to the fourth official during the game.

(Image: Getty Images Europe) (Image: PA) (Image: Liverpool Echo)

Television evidence suggests however, that Holgate was mistaken, with pictures appearing to show Firmino apparently mouthing a Portuguese phrase “loco puta”, which roughly translates as ‘crazy mother******.

Afterwards, Everton boss Sam Allardyce immediately called for the matter to be investigated by the authorities.

He refused to be drawn into any discussion of whether Holgate had repeated his onfield claims, and he instead said he had passed the matter into the hands of his club’s Director of Football Steve Walsh to pursue with the FA.

Asked if he had spoken with his defender post match, the manager replied: “Even if I had or I hadn’t I wouldn’t tell anyone today in this press conference, that is for others to deal with – I have left that with the director of football today and told him to sort that one out.

(Image: PA) (Image: AFP) (Image: PA)



“I’m telling you nothing until whatever systems are used to find out exactly what happened and didn’t happen.”

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admitted afterwards he was totally unaware of the allegations from Holgate.

He did reveal he realised Madley had reported an incident to fourth official Jon Moss during the game...but said he did not understand what the allegation was.

Madley in fact, went over the fourth officially immediately after Holgate’s claim, and spoke at length with Moss.

The matter will be included in the official report, and that will automatically spark an investigation by the FA. Liverpool offered a comment later, when they said they would co-operate fully with any investigation.

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The club and the player will fully co-operate with the relevant authorities to ensure the facts are established in a thorough manner if deemed necessary or requested,” it read.

“While that process is ongoing we will not be making any further comment.”

Klopp had criticised Holgate on TV immediately after the game, but admitted later that was because he thought the referee had merely reported the incident where the defender pushed Firmino over the barriers.

And he said: “I don’t really know anything about it,” he said. “I misjudged it completely because I thought it was about a Holgate foul. I thought they wanted to investigate the Holgate foul.”

(Image: PA) (Image: AFP)

The controversy overshadowed Virgil van Dijk’s remarkable contribution to derby history, when he scored the winner six minutes from time with a towering header on his debut after his record breaking move.

And Klopp later revealed he was not going to pick his £75m defender, and only changed his mind on the morning of the game.

“A fairytale, in a world with not a lot of fairytales anymore, I think something like that is quite special,” he said.

“It was a difficult decision to make, to be honest, because the first plan was not to start him tonight. Dejan [Lovren] and Raggy [Ragnar Klavan] played a lot of games in the last few weeks, so I changed my mind this morning. It helped.

“Obviously, it was a good idea in the end because the whole game was good. He showed a lot of the things we want him to show in the future very often -- heading, football-wise, first touch.”