Premier League
Tottenham professional banned for a long time for racist comments about teammates
A comment about his teammate Heung-Min Son cost Tottenham professional Rodrigo Bentancur dearly. The two are actually friends. Now Son speaks out.
Uruguayan professional footballer Rodrigo Bentancur of Tottenham Hotspur has been banned for seven games at national level by the English Football Association (FA) for a remark that was classified as racist. The midfielder will not be available to Spurs in the league again until Christmas. The 27-year-old also has to pay a fine of around 120,000 euros (100,000 pounds).
Back in June, Bentancur joked in a TV interview in his home country about his South Korean teammate Heung-Min Son that you couldn’t tell him apart from his cousin: “They all look the same.” The interview was only published in September. The FA then launched an investigation into serious misconduct.
Son accepts Bentancur’s apology
Bentancur had already apologized publicly and also to his teammate Son, but rejected the accusation of racism. The Uruguayan described his remark as a “very bad joke” and stressed that he would “never intentionally say anything hurtful.”
Son accepted the apology and defended his teammate at a press conference. “I spoke to Lolo. He made a mistake, he knows it and apologized,” said the South Korean international. “Lolo would never have intentionally said anything offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.”
The ban does not apply to the Europa League
The ban applies at the national level. This means Bentancur will miss Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League games against Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea as well as the League Cup quarter-finals against Manchester United. Bentancur is available to his club for the upcoming games in the Europa League against AS Roma and Glasgow Rangers.
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Source: Stern
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