Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson apparently called Arsenal's Gabriel Magalhaes a "f****** idiot" to trigger a heated confrontation between the two players, as he detailed the incident to The FA.
The pair were involved in a tense showdown during the closing minutes of the Gunners' 3-2 win over Jurgen Klopp's troops earlier this month. Both Gabriel and Henderson were at the heart of the incident with referee Michael Oliver being forced to have a conversation during play with managers Klopp and Mikel Arteta. It was announced that an investigation had been launched by the FA in the aftermath of the confrontation but no further action was taken.
An official statement read: "The FA received a complaint about an incident involving two players in this fixture. As a result of the complaint, The FA conducted a full and thorough investigation.
"The investigation included taking witness statements from the complainant and accused, along with an additional six players who were within proximity of the alleged incident, reviewing multiple angles of video footage, and seeking independent linguistics experts' evidence.
"None of the witnesses heard the alleged comment, and the player accused strenuously denied the allegation throughout. Whilst The FA is entirely satisfied that the allegation was made in good faith, it is equally satisfied that there is no case to answer.
"The FA continues to take all allegations received extremely seriously and would encourage anyone who believes that they have been the subject of or witness to abuse to report this through the appropriate channels.
"The FA receives a number of complaints in any one season and thoroughly investigates each one that it receives. Following consideration of all of the evidence received, not all cases will result in a charge being issued."
Henderson's view of the incident has now been revealed. The Reds captain was asked if he called the defender an 'idiot' to which he replied: "No, I called him a f****** idiot".
Mirror Sport understands that Gabriel misheard Henderson. The word 'idiot' closely resembles the sound of a racist term in Portuguese, which Henderson does not speak.
Of course, with no further action having been taken against either Henderson or Gabriel, both remain eligible for their sides going forwards. The Brazilian has played a key role for the Gunners so far this season following an impressive start to the campaign. He will likely be called upon alongside William Saliba this weekend once more as the Gunners take on struggling Nottingham Forest.
In the meantime, Henderson has been in and out of the Liverpool side so far this term with 14 appearances to his name in all competitions - albeit 11 of those being starts. His side take on Leeds United this weekend.
