Rodrigo Bentancur's rejected defence for Son Heung-min slur as Tottenham star hit with ban

Rodrigo Bentancur argued that his racial slur about team-mate Heung-min Son was a "sarcastic" and "gentle rebuke" to a TV reporter who referred to the captain as "the Korean."

after an independent FA commission found him guilty of an aggravated breach of their misconduct rules.

Journalist Rafa Cotelo was in Bentancur's house for a lengthy filming session in June when the reporter asked for "the Korean's shirt" by journalist Rafa Cotelo during a four-hour filming session at Bentancur's home, the Uruguay international replied: "Sonny? Or one of Sonny’s cousins as they all look more or less the same."

And the written judgment, which was published on Monday morning, found that Spurs provided a submission to the commission in which they claimed Bentancur's comment was intended to be a “jocular generalisation... which did not cross the line into misconduct."

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The 27-year-old denied the charge and will now not play again in domestic competitions until Day after the three-person panel said his comments were "clearly abusive and insulting."

But Tottenham, according to the written reasons, claimed: "Rodrigo's reply was sarcastic and a gentle rebuke for the journalist calling Sonny ‘The Korean’. Rodrigo does not believe that all Koreans ‘look more or less the same.'

"The context of the exchange clearly shows Rodrigo is being sarcastic. It was Mr Cotelo who described Sonny as ‘the Korean.’ In the context of the conversation, it was obvious that Mr Cotelo was referring to Sonny as ‘the Korean’ and Rodrigo was challenging the journalist in his description of his club team-mate.”

But that defence was rejected by the commission who handed down a hefty punishment to Bentancur that means he will miss fixtures against , , , , , (in the Carabao Cup) and .

Bentancur will, however, be allowed to continue playing in the . Ange Postecoglou’s team host Roma on November 28 and travel to Glasgow to face Rangers in mid-December.

In September Son said he had accepted an apology from Bentancur. "I love Rodrigo, I love him. We've a lot of good memories. He knew, he apologised straight afterwards. I didn't even realise what was going on. He sent me a long message and you could feel it was from the heart," Son said.

“When we came back for pre-season he felt really sorry and almost cried. He apologised publicly and personally as well. He felt really sorry. He made a mistake and we learn from it. I've no problem at all with him. We move on as a team-mate and friend and as a brother.

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