Tottenham appeals against severity of Bentancur’s ban for offensive comments on South Koreans

LONDON (AP) — Tottenham has launched an appeal against the severity of Uruguay midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match ban for making an offensive comment about South Koreans in relation to a remark about Spurs teammate Son Heung-min.

“While we accept the guilty finding against Rodrigo by the independent regulatory commission, we believe the subsequent sanction is severe,” Tottenham said Wednesday.

Bentancur will remain suspended from domestic competitions while the appeal is heard. He is set to miss six Premier League games and an English League Cup quarterfinal against Manchester United. The ban doesn’t cover European competitions, so he can play in the Europa League.

Appearing on a Uruguayan television show in June, Bentancur was asked for a Tottenham player’s jersey and replied, “Sonny’s?” He added it could be Son’s cousin, too, because “more or less they are all the same.”

Bentancur later apologized to Son on Instagram, saying it was a “very bad joke” and he would “never disrespect you or hurt you.” Son accepted the apology.

Details of the decision released by the independent commission showed that Bentancur explained his comments “were sarcastic and a gentle rebuke” for the journalist calling his teammate “The Korean” and that he challenged the reporter’s description of Son.

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.

Bentancur was also issued with a fine of 100,000 pounds ($126,000) by the commission.

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