The puta word (in Spanish anyway) can be tricky, depending on the context. When you hear South American or Mexican crowds yelling it on every goal kick, it's been explained to me by South Americans that the context is an anti-gay slur. On the other hand, if he called him an SOB, that is something else entirely.
It was "filho da puta", which means "son of a bi*ch", a very usual insult when people are angry.
Puta means bi*ch/whore, what Spanish speaking football supporters in South America yell is "puto", which is in this case something offensive towards gays, like "faggot" or something like that (not sure of the best translation).
But Brazil is not a Spanish speaking country, and supporters don't yell that here. They yell "bicha" which is quite different.
It was very easy to read Firmino's lips at the time, I actually burst out laughing because it was a very usual angry reaction from a Brazilian, "cĂȘ tĂĄ louco?" is something like "are you crazy?" but kinda meaning "have you lost your F***ing mind?", as in "you must be nuts do to that to me" - there's a threat implied. "Filho da puta" is just that, son of a bi*ch, as common in Portuguese as "motherfucker" probably is in English.
What people have been saying is that Holgate supposedly reacts angrily at something said later, when you can't really see Firmino's lips. And there's a video somewhere on twitter that shows Holgate supposedly saying "he just called me nigger" to the referee.
Nigger isn't even a word in Portuguese, but of course Firmino could have changed from Portuguese to English at some point. No idea.
I do find it unlikely though.
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