Spurs lose appeal over Betancur’s 7-match ban for ‘abusive and insulting’ Son comments
December 18: In connection with a statement regarding Spurs teammate Son Heung-min, Tottenham Hotspur has lost their appeal against the harshness of Uruguay player Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-game suspension for making an inflammatory remark about South Koreans.
An independent committee imposed the suspension on the Uruguay midfielder on November 18 for domestic English games, and Spurs said they would file an appeal.
Bentancur will serve the balance of his suspension, missing games against Manchester United in the League Cup and Liverpool in the Premier League, after the English FA revealed that an appeal board rejected Tottenham’s petition.
After a hearing, this appeal was denied, and the regulatory commission’s seven-match suspension is still in effect, the governing body said in a statement.
In September, Bentancur was accused of misbehavior related to a television interview he had given three months earlier in his native country. When asked to display a Spurs player’s shirt during the interview, the midfielder said, “Sonny’s? Since they all have the same appearance, it can also be Sonny’s relative.
Despite the fact that Bentancur’s club football field is thousands of miles away from the interview location, English authorities were judged to have jurisdiction over the matter. Six games is the typical minimum penalty when such a violation is proven, although Spurs stated they thought the punishment was “severe” upon verifying their intention to appeal.
On Instagram, Bentancur expressed regret to Son for his comments, calling them “a very bad joke” and promising to “never disrespect you.” According to reports, the two are good friends, and Son accepted the apology right away in a message posted on the same site.
According to the independent commission’s decision details, Bentancur clarified that he questioned the reporter’s portrayal of Son and that his remarks “were sarcastic and a gentle rebuke” for the journalist referring to his colleague as “The Korean.”
In its conclusions, the regulatory commission, however, wrote that “even on the basis of the player’s evidence and submissions, we consider the player’s conduct in using the words he did, in the full context in which they were used, was clearly abusive and insulting, and would amount to misconduct.”
The commission added that it also took into consideration the fact that Bentancur did not intend to offend Son or anyone else.
