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Tottenham star set to miss Man United and Man City games with seven-match ban pending

Rodrigo Bentancur is set to miss Tottenham's next seven matches.
-Credit: (Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)


Tottenham star Rodrigo Bentancur is poised to miss matches with Manchester City and Manchester United after comments he made about Son Heung-min.

The 27-year-old - who joined Tottenham from Italian giants Juventus in January 2022 - made the comments while on international duty with Uruguay in June. Bentancur was filmed speaking in a social media clip saying that South Korean people "all look the same" in an interview conducted in Spanish on Uruguayan TV.

The host asked Bentancur if he could get him a Tottenham player's shirt to which the midfielder replied "Sonny's?" before adding: "It could be Sonny's cousin too as they all look the same."

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The FA confirmed earlier this year that Bentancur had been charged with an 'aggravated breach' of their rules. The former Boca Juniors star issued an apology on Instagram for what he called "a very bad joke".

Son accepted Bentancur's apology, saying on social media: "He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised. Lolo [Bentancur] 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."

And now, the FA has decided to hand Bentancur a seven-match ban from domestic football, according to reports from The Sun. It means Bentancur will miss upcoming Premier League matches against City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool - as well as the Carabao Cup quarter-final against United.

That takes place on December 19. He could make his return for the trip to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.

Bentancur's absence for Tottenham's trip to City later this month will be gigantic. He has been a key performer this season and has made 15 appearances this season, scoring once. He's also set to miss the clash against United in the Carabao Cup, which would be the penultimate game of his seven-match ban.