Tottenham Hotspur are right to challenge the length of Rodrigo Bentancur’s ban for making a racist remark about his South Korean teammate Son Heung-min, said manager Ange Postecoglou. Uruguay midfielder Bentancur was hit with a seven-match sanction by the Football Association this week, adding to Postecoglou’s woes after an inconsistent start to the season. “It’s obviously disappointing because he’s been great for us this year,” the Australian said.
“He’s been one of the ones whose football has gone up another level, but we understood this was kind of coming and I support the club’s decision to appeal the severity of the ban. We will work with Rodrigo through that and make sure in that time he has all of our support in the right way so that when’s he available again, he’s ready.”
The FA charged Bentancur in September after he made a joke at Son’s expense during a television show. A Host asked Bentancur for a Spurs player’s shirt, to which the Uruguayan replied, “Sonny’s?”, adding: “Or one of Sonny’s cousins as they all look more or less the same.”
Bentancur, who was also fined 100,000 pounds ($125,950.00), apologised to Son and said there was no bad feeling between them. In a statement, Tottenham said they had not appealed the guilty finding but the ban which they believe is too severe.
Postecoglou added his support for the player. “As a club, we are going to support him because the one thing that is undeniable to me is I know him, he’s an outstanding person, he’s an unbelievable teammate and he’s a person with the utmost character and he’s made a mistake.”
Tottenham have further problems ahead of their trip to champions Manchester City tomorrow with Micky van de Ven ruled out and fellow centre back Christian Romero a doubt.
The FA charged Rodrigo Bentancur (left) in September after he made a joke at teammate Son Heung-min’s expense during a television show.
