Paris Foot Gay, an amateur club with a large number of gay players who campaign against homophobia in football and society as a whole, complained to France’s Professional Football League (LFP) after Barton called Brazil defender Silva a “pussy” and “a overweight ladyboy” on Twitter on Wednesday.

The matter has since been passed on to the Conseil National de l’Ethique (CNE), who have the power to hand the Englishman a suspension for remarks that have been taken very seriously in France.