A Scottish Football Association (SFA) tribunal has thrown out Celtic winger Aleksandar Tonev's appeal against a seven-match ban for using racist language.
On-loan Aston Villa winger Tonev was banned by an SFA panel over an incident involving Aberdeen full back Shay Logan in September.
The SFA has published the report of both the panels that examined the case, which Celtic said last month they would take to appeal.
The report of the original panel hearing, which imposed the ban in October, said Logan had accused Tonev of saying: "Don't touch me, you black c---" when the Aberdeen defender put his arm across the winger moments after fouling him.
Tonev denied saying the words and nobody else heard them, but the panel heard that Logan had quickly told his captain, Mark Reynolds, referee Bobby Madden and manager Derek McInnes.
The report described Logan as an "impressive witness," adding: "He gave his evidence in a careful and measured manner.
"He gave clear and unequivocal evidence that Mr Tonev had used the language complained of and that it had been targeted at him."
However, the panel members said they were unable to accept the Bulgarian winger as "either credible or reliable" on the central issue of the case.
The report continued: "His evidence on his understanding of the language said to have been used was particularly unsatisfactory.
"The impression was of a witness giving a less than a full account of his actual understanding, and [it] seemed to the tribunal to be an inherently improbable account."
Celtic manager Ronny Deila had earlier indicated that the club would challenge the decision if the ban was upheld, but his comments were criticised by Aberdeen counterpart Derek McInnes.
