Rodrigo Bentancur speaks in an interview about his teammate Heung-Min Son. The English Football Association FA classifies the statement as a racist remark. Bentancur receives a drastic ban, although Son had already forgiven him weeks ago.
Rodrigo Bentancur will probably bitterly regret his words. The Uruguayan professional from 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 footballer also has to pay a fine of around 120,000 euros (100,000 British pounds).
Back in June, Bentancur joked in a TV interview in his home country of Uruguay about his South Korean teammate Heung-Min Son that you couldn’t tell him apart from his cousin. “They all look the same,” Bentancur said literally. The interview was subsequently published in September. The FA then launched an investigation into serious misconduct.
Bentancur apologizes
At the end of September, Son spoke in detail about the case at a press conference. “I love Rodrigo. We have many good memories together. He apologized straight away when we were on holiday. I was at home and didn’t even notice what was going on,” said the South Korean.
Son also detailed Bentancur’s apology. He wrote a “very long text message that you could feel that it came from the heart”; This was followed by a personal and a public apology. At the time, Bentancur firmly 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.”
His teammate almost cried, said Son about returning to the training field together to start preparations. Son forgave Bentancur and confirmed that he had “no problem at all” with the Uruguay international.
The FA nevertheless took action. 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.
rc with dpa
