November 21 – Just 48 hours after the English Football Association announced that Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur would serve a seven-match domestic ban for comments made about his teammate Son Heung-min, the North London outfit has appealed against the length of the ban.
If the appeal is unsuccessful, the 27-year-old Uruguay international will miss six Premier League fixtures and a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.
Bentancur was charged with misconduct in September, three months after he’d given a television interview in his home country where he was asked to provide a shirt belonging to a Spurs player. “Sonny’s?” he replied. “It could be Sonny’s cousin too as they all look the same.”
Bentancur subsequently apologised to Son on Instagram and the Spurs captain accepted that apology on the same platform. “I’ve spoken with Lolo [Bentancur]. He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised,” Son said.
“Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all. We’re past this, we’re united and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”
Spurs said: “While we accept the guilty finding against Rodrigo by the independent regulatory commission, we believe the subsequent sanction is severe. Rodrigo will remain suspended from domestic competitions while the appeal is heard, and the club will make no further comment during this time”.
The standard ban for this breach of misconduct has been established as six matches. The Spurs appeal will be hoping to get at least a one-match reduction in the suspension. Bentancur’s ban begins with Saturday evening’s trip to Manchester City, a club that Tottenham have had great success against over the last five years. Bentancur was also hit hard in the pocket as the FA fined him £100,000.
Most recently, Edinson Cavani was sanctioned for using the term ‘negrito’ in an Instagram post, while Bernardo Silva received a one-match ban and a £50,000 fine for a social media post comparing Benjamin Mendy to a ‘conguito’.
Previously, Luis Suarez received an eight-match suspension in 2011 for using racist language towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, and former England captain, John Terry was given a four-game ban in 2012 after being found guilty of using racist language towards QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1734952114labto1734952114ofdlr1734952114owedi1734952114sni@o1734952114fni1734952114