If Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino is proven guilty of racial abuse, the Football Association will know exactly what to do with him. There is a process, there are precedents, there will be a severe punishment.
The system is not perfect, but it exists. Luis Suarez received an eight-game ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra. If guilty, Firmino’s punishment will be in the ball park of that, as it should be.
If, on Tuesday morning, Firmino was in hospital with a broken back, however, the FA would be scrambling for direction. Bobby Madley, the referee, plainly saw him pushed at speed towards a concrete obstacle by Everton defender Mason Holgate.