By Jamie Gardner, PA Chief Sports Reporter
Tottenham’s appeal to reduce Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match ban over comments he made about team-mate Son Heung-min has been dismissed.
The Uruguay midfielder was given the suspension by an independent commission on November 18 and two days later, Spurs indicated they would appeal.
On Tuesday, the Football Association confirmed an appeal board had dismissed Tottenham’s challenge against that sanction.
“This appeal was dismissed following a hearing, and the seven-match suspension remains as ordered by the regulatory commission,” the governing body said in a statement.
Bentancur was charged with misconduct in September over a television interview he gave in his home country in June, with the reference to Son’s race making it an aggravated breach.
The standard minimum ban where such a breach is established is six matches, but Spurs said they felt the sanction was “severe” when confirming their intention to appeal.
Bentancur was asked during an interview to show the shirt of a Spurs player, and replied: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cousin too as they all look the same.”
Bentancur apologised on Instagram to Son for his remarks and Son accepted that apology in a statement on the same platform.
“I’ve spoken with Lolo (Bentancur). He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised,” the South Korea captain said.
“Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.
“We’re past this, we’re united and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”
Bentancur was also fined £100,000.
The original panel said it felt the breach fell “towards the lower end of the (sanctioning) guideline range but not the lowest point”.
It added: “Cases can easily be envisaged which are less serious than this, but nevertheless subject to the minimum suspension of six matches.”
The panel said it should have been “reasonably foreseeable” to Bentancur that the remarks would be widely distributed via social media, but took into account as mitigation his sincere apology and his previous clean disciplinary record.
The appeal board’s written reasons for dismissing Spurs’ challenge have not yet been published.
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