The Football Association of England is rejecting Tottenham's bid to have Rodrigo Bentancur's ban reduced for racist comments.
Tottenham have lost their appeal against the severity of Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur's seven-game ban for making an offensive comment about South Koreans in relation to a comment about Spurs team-mate Son Heung- min.
The Football Association said on Tuesday that Spurs appeal it was rejected after a hearing and the sanction stands, with reasons for the decision to be published shortly.
Bentancur has already suspended for five domestic gamesand will miss the League Cup quarter-final against Manchester United on Thursday as well as Liverpool's Premier League visit on Sunday.
Appearing on a television program in Uruguay in June, Bentancur was asked for the Tottenham player's jersey and replied, “Sonny's?” He said he could be Mac's cousin too, because “more or less they're all the same.”
Bentancur later apologized to Son on Instagram, saying it was a “very bad joke” and that he would “never disrespect you or hurt you.” ” Mac accepted the apology.
Details of the decision released by the independent commission showed that Bentancur explained his comments “were sarcastic and mildly harmful” to the journalist calling his teammate “The Korean” and that challenged the narrator's description of Son.
In its decisions, the Regulatory Commission wrote, however, “even on the basis of the evidence and the claims of the player, we believe that the behavior of the player in using the words he did, in the overall context in which they were used, clearly abusive and offensive, and would constitute misconduct.”
The commission said it also took into account that Bentancur did not intend to offend Mac or anyone else.
Bentancur was also fined $126,000 by the commission.
