Sometime in the next week the Football Association must decide who it believes — four English-speaking match officials or a player whose mother tongue is Portuguese and whose English is far from fluent.
It is no exaggeration to say this is arguably the most significant disciplinary case the governing body of English football has faced because never before has a leading club — the European Champions — claimed a top-class referee racially abused a player.
The career of referee Mark Clattenburg, not to mention the reputation of refereeing, is at stake after he was accused of using "inappropriate language" toward Jon Obi Mikel, the Chelsea midfielder during last Sunday's 3-2 defeat by Manchester United.