Rodrigo Bentancur has been banned for seven games and fined £100,000 after a slip of the tongue five months ago. In June, on the Por La Camiseta TV show in his native Uruguay, when asked to give away a Tottenham player's shirt, Bentancur replied: "Sonny's (Son Heung Min)? Maybe his cousin because they look almost the same." After the show, the 27-year-old star apologized on social media.
In September, Bentancur was charged by the FA with improper conduct, using abusive, insulting and disparaging language. The FA cited FA Rule E3.2 and said Bentancur's conduct was a "serious breach" because it involved nationality, race or ethnic origin.
After the FA charged Bentancur, when asked about this incident, Son Heung-min said that everything should be handled by the FA according to regulations. As for the Korean striker, he said that he still loves Rodrigo Bentancur very much.
"We have a lot of good memories of playing together. We have been real teammates on the pitch since he joined Tottenham. After that incident, he apologised immediately. I was at home and didn't even know what had happened.
Bentancur sent me a very long message, reading it was enough to understand that those words came from the heart. Later, when he returned to the headquarters to practice for the new season, Bentancur almost cried when he apologized to me publicly in front of the whole team. I could see that he was truly remorseful.
We are all human and we all make mistakes. I love Bentancur very much. He can make mistakes but for me, it is not a problem. We are still friends, teammates and look in the same direction so that we can all move forward together" - Son shared.
As for captain Ange Postecoglou, a few months ago, the Australian coach gave his opinion on this scandal of his student. According to him, the punishment from the FA is not simply a penalty, it has a high educational value, so that the players can look at it and make amends, from there learn and gain more experience for themselves.
The Uruguayan will miss Tottenham's upcoming Premier League games against Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool, as well as the League Cup quarter-final against Manchester United in December. He can still play for Tottenham in the Europa League as the ban only applies to English football leagues.
