Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been hit with a seven-match ban and a £100,000 fine (approximately €120,000) by the English Football Association for comments he made about his own teammate Son Heung-min this past summer. THFC are appealing the length of the ban.
Betancur was speaking to a media outlet from his home country of Uruguay when a reporter asked him for a Son shirt. Bentancur responded with “or from any cousin of Sonny; all Koreans look very much alike.”
Man City vs Tottenham Hotspur FYIs
Kick: Sat. Nov 23, 5:30pm, Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
Team News: Man City Part 1 Man City Part 2 Tottenham
Starting XI Predictions: Man City Tottenham
Full Injury List: Man City Tottenham
Google Result Probability: Man City 64% Draw 19% Tottenham 17%
PL Form: Man City WWWLL Tottenham LWLWL
PL Standing: Man City 2nd, 23 pts Tottenham 10th 16 pts
Tottenham Team News
Despite the two teammates being good friends and Son actually not taking any offense from it, the FA declared it a racist remark and threw the book at Betancur.
So the Uruguyan will miss out against Man City on Saturday, and then we’ll just have to see from there. Meanwhile Cristian Romero is a doubt due to a foot injury. Spurs also have a trio of players who are beyond doubtful, and by that I mean they’re definitively ruled out, due to hamstring injuries, in Micky van de Ven, Richarlison and Wilson Odobert.
The last two names have been out awhile, or at least that’s how it feels.
While Spurs will be on the road, and they’re looking up at City in the standings, at least they have a squad with far fewer fitness concerns than their opponents.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.