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Rodrigo Bentancur handed huge ban over alleged racist remark towards team-mate as FA release statement

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Tottenham star Rodrigo Bentancur has been banned for seven matches by the FA over an alleged racist remark about team-mate Son Heung-min during an interview.

The Uruguay midfielder was charged by the FA with alleged misconduct over the remark, which was made in an interview with local station Canal 10 in July.

Son confirmed that Bentancur apologised to him privately, with the midfielder also posting a public apology to his Instagram page.

Last week, it was reported that Spurs were braced for the 27-year-old to receive a seven-match ban, which would see him miss crucial matches against Manchester City, Liverpool and a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.

The FA have now confirmed that Bentancur has been banned for those seven matches and fined £100,000.

They state that Bentancur denied the charge against him, but an Independent Regulatory Commission found it to be proven and imposed the sanction.

The statement reads: "It was alleged that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder breached FA Rule E3.1 as he acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute.

"It was further alleged that this constitutes an 'aggravated breach', which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference - whether express or implied - to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin."

The FA have also published their written reasons for the decision, including the full exchange between the Canal 10 TV host and Bentancur for the first time.

"The only part of the interview to which the charges relates is the following translated exchange, which appears to have concerned a request by Mr Cotelo [the host] to see one of the football shirts that the Player had at his home.

"Mr Cotelo: Your shirt, well what about the Korean's shirt?

"The Player: Sonny?

"Mr Cotelo: Or a champion.

"The Player: Or one of Sonny's cousins as they all look more or less the same."

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Tottenham star Rodrigo Bentancur set to be handed massive ban for alleged racist remark

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Rodrigo Bentancur is set to be handed a significant ban from football over an alleged racist remark, it has been reported.

The Uruguay midfielder was charged by the FA with alleged misconduct over a remark he made on a television programme in July about team-mate Son Heung-min.

In an interview with Uruguayan station Canal 10, Bentancur was asked to show the shirt of a Spurs player, and allegedly replied: "Sonny's? It could be Sonny's cousin too as they all look the same."

Son later stated that Bentancur had apologised to him, and added that he still 'loves him'.

He said: "He knew. He apologised straight afterwards when we had holiday. I was at home - I didn't even realise what was going on. He sent me a long message and you could feel it was coming from his heart.

"When we came back from pre-season, he felt really sorry and he almost cried when he apologised publicly and personally."

As well as his personal apology to Son, the midfielder also posted a lengthy apology on his official Instagram account.

Bentancur faced calls to be hit with a lengthy ban by the FA for the remark.

And it has now been reported by the Daily Mirror that Tottenham are prepared for the Uruguayan to receive a seven-match ban from domestic competitions.

Such a ban would mean he is eligible for Europa League fixtures, but would not be available for Premier League or Carabao Cup matches.

What games would Bentancur miss if he's given seven-game ban?

Bentancur would miss crucial upcoming fixtures against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, as well as the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United. He would return on Boxing Day.

The FA's rules surrounding misconduct, which covers E3.1 and E3.2, states: "[Rule E3.1] A Participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.

"A breach of Rule E3.1 is an 'Aggravated Breach' were it includes a reference, whether express or implied, to any one or more of the following:- ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, religion or belief, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation or disability."

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Fan footage shows Ange Postecoglou clashing with his own supporters as pressure builds on Tottenham boss

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Shocking footage of Ange Postecoglou clashing with a fan after Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 loss to Ipswich Town has emerged online.

On Sunday afternoon, newly-promoted Ipswich Town earned their first win of the season beating Tottenham Hotspur in London.

Despite many predicting Tottenham would challenge for the top four this season, the loss leaves Tottenham in 10th, while it took Ipswich out of the relegation zone and into 17th.

And after the final whistle, footage on social media has revealed that Spurs boss Postecoglou clashed with a home fan at the ground following the disappointing result.

The footage posed on X by Chris Cowlin shows the Australian manager heading towards the tunnel with his players after the match.

But as he prepared to leave the pitch, a fan shouted something at Postecoglou which clearly struck a nerve, as the Tottenham boss stopped to look at the crowd and figure out who had made the comment.

The frustrated fan was not the only one in the stadium angered by the performance, as boos from the home supporters could supposedly clearly be heard once the final whistle was blown.

Sunday's result comes as the 59-year-old continues to face mounting pressure about his future at the club, as he has struggled to establish consistency in his side's performances.

With 16 points, Tottenham have won five matches in the Premier League this season, losing another five and drawing one.

This leaves them three points away from a pack of four teams who sit from third to sixth, only separated by goal difference, and a massive 12 points off league leaders Liverpool.

When asked about his side's inconsistency this season, Postecoglou told BBC Sport: "It's just down to me. I’m not getting consistent performances from the players.

"It's something I need to address. I'm the person in charge so that's usually the way it goes.

"I take responsibility when their performances don't meet the levels that they should."

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Frank Lampard labels one player as Tottenham’s ‘weakness’ after huge win over Aston Villa

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Frank Lampard has picked out one Tottenham Hotspur star as the team’s weakness after their win over Aston Villa.

On Sunday afternoon, Unai Emery’s men travelled to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to take on Spurs.

Morgan Rogers fired the visitors into a 1-0 half-time lead but Ange Postecoglou’s men came out a different side in the second period.

A brace from Dominic Solanke plus goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison sealed a massive 4-1 win.

Speaking on Sky Sports after the match, former Chelsea and England midfielder Lampard picked out Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario as a potential weakness.

He said: “I just felt the goalkeeper allowed himself to be so unbalanced through the movement of it. He will understand that he will be getting it in every game now. People are going to get in your way, so Tottenham, it’s certainly a weakness that they haven’t quite put right.

“Vicario, not the most dominant of goalkeepers. Doesn’t come off his line. It’s a flat delivery to the near post, Spurs don’t deal with it. Vicario getting involved with Rogers on the line, distracted by him. Does make a decent save but Rogers has the simplest of tasks, tapping in from two yards.”

Speaking after the match, Postecoglou said: “Villa are a good side. The first half was a bit of an arm wrestle. They have a consistent level of performance. We have other gears in us which we showed in the second half.”

When asked about striker Solanke, the Australian added: “Unbelievable effort. The work he did midweek against City. His goals are unbelievable but his general play, his work-rate, I can't speak highly enough of him.

“Seven days is a long time in football. Seven days ago I was a grumpy old so and so. We have to say true to the course we're on.”

He added: “We made sure not to feel sorry for ourselves and back to the team we want to be.”

Spurs will be back in action on Thursday night when they take on Turkish Super Lig side Galatasaray in the UEFA Europa League.

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Carabao Cup quarter-final draw: Man Utd handed nightmare tie, Liverpool face Southampton

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The quarter-final draw of the Carabao Cup has been made on the back of Tottenham Hotspur's clash against Manchester City.

On Tuesday night, Premier League duo Southampton and Brentford survived tough tests from Stoke City and Sheffield Wednesday to seal their place in the last eight.

The likes of City, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and holders Liverpool were all in action on Wednesday night as they hoped to advance into the next round.

Liverpool came out on top after a thrilling 3-2 win over Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex while United thrashed Leicester City 5-2 at Old Trafford.

Speaking after the match, United interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy said: “I have to say we had some luck as well, I am so happy for Casemiro though and [Alejandro] Garnacho and Bruno [Fernandes]. Five goals but the chances against West Ham and Fenerbahce, we created so much and couldn't finish., All of a sudden we had some luck on our side and that made it a great night.

“It is always the target to react and attack. The reaction of players after the Leicester goals were excellent and they deserve the credit. I am glad the crowd go home happy.”

Meanwhile, Aston Villa suffered a shock 2-1 defeat against Crystal Palace and Chelsea were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United at St. James’ Park.

Mikel Arteta’s men proved too good for Championship side Preston North End as the Gunners ran away 3-0 winners.

At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs managed to beat City 2-1 thanks to goals from Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr, Matheus Nunes was the scorer for Pep Guardiola's men.

On the back of the match between Spurs and City, the draw for the quarter-final was made.

Spurs will take on United at home, with North London rivals Arsenal hosting Crystal Palace. Newcastle United will play against Brentford at St. James' Park and defending champions Liverpool will head to the South Coast to take on Southampton.

The Carabao Cup quarter-final draw in full:

Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

Newcastle United vs Brentford

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Fans spot Didier Drogba's priceless reaction after Kaka claims Tottenham is a 'big club'

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Brazil and AC Milan legend Kaka believes Tottenham Hotspur are a 'big club' - but former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba made it clear what his thoughts were on the matter with a priceless reaction.

Kaka won the Ballon d'Or in 2007 and was at the peak of his powers with AC Milan, whom he represented in two spells and won Serie A and the Champions League.

The Brazilian attacking midfielder, who moved to Real Madrid in 2009 in the same summer Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the Santiago Bernabeu from Manchester United, spent four years at the Spanish capital before heading back to the San Siro in 2013.

The now 42-year-old ended his career with Orlando City in the MLS, which also involved a loan spell back at Sao Paulo in his home country.

Drogba is best known for his time at Chelsea after moving to Stamford Bridge in 2004 from Marseille.

The former Ivory Coast international won a total of four Premier League titles across two spells at Chelsea, as well as a quartet of FA Cups, three League Cups and the Champions League.

Drogba came up against Spurs many times in his Premier League career, with the Blues often finishing above the North London side.

However, Drogba was on the losing side when Spurs won their last trophy, the 2008 League Cup.

Drogba netted the opener at Wembley, but Spurs drew level in the second half thanks to Dimitar Berbatov's penalty, and Jonathan Woodgate scored the winner for the North London side in extra-time.

Drogba, Kaka and Juventus legend Alessandro del Piero have been discussing Heung-min Son as part of promotion for the new EA Sports FC game, where the trio laud the South Korean's impact.

Kaka said: "I love him because of things that Ale and Didier said already, the technique and everything.

"I've never met him but it seems that he's a nice guy. He's happy, he's always laughing and had this relationship with the supporters.

"When you have an opportunity to be in a big club like Tottenham for many years, that is something really special. It's not easy to be in the same team for a long period and doing good like he's doing, so I like him."

But fans on social media have noticed when Kaka mentioned Spurs are a 'big club' the shot of Drogba looking awkwardly in the Brazilian's direction with his hand on his chin, making it fairly clear he does not agree with Kaka's assessment of the North London side.

One fan said: "Drogba 's face when kaka said Tottenham was a big club. lol."

Another wrote: "The look on Didier Drogba face when Kaka mentioned Tottenham as a BIG CLUB."

Another fan said: "He’s like what’s bro waffling about."

And another wrote: "Drogba you beauty."

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Fans can’t believe what Richarlison did during ugly brawl that saw Mohammed Kudus sent off

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Fans on social media can't believe what Tottenham Hotspur striker Richarlison did after West Ham United's Mohammed Kudus was sent off in their Premier League clash.

After putting his side ahead early in the match, Kudus was shown a red card during West Ham United's Premier League match against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

The Ghanian winger clashed with Spurs defender Micky van de Ven and appeared to kick him whilst the Dutchman was on the ground.

And after watching the footage of the incident back, fans are only now just noticing how van de Ven's teammate Richarlison reacted to the foul and they cannot believe it.

Shortly after the clash between Kudus and the Tottenham defender, Richarlison came sprinting towards Kudus, before colliding with his shoulder and clashing heads, leading to him falling to the ground in pain.

Reacting to the moment on social media platform X, one fan wrote: "Richarlison met Kudus’ shoulder and went down like he got shot."

Another added: "Richarlison on the floor is killing me this guy just wanted a scrap."

While one frustrated fan wrote: "Why does Richarlison always feel the need to get involved get up man"

And one fan noted: "The commentators little chuckle when Richarlison took a stray"

After hitting out at both van de Ven and Richarlison, Kudus also struck Tottenham midfielder Pape Sarr in the face before the referee and players from both clubs could interfere.

The 24-year-old was initially shown a yellow card, but it was later upgraded to a straight red card following a VAR review.

This means that the star player will miss out on West Ham's next three matches against Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Everton.

And this wasn't the only blow to the Hammers as despite the early goal from Kudus, West Ham came away with zero points from the Premier League fixture which ended as a bruising 4-1 defeat for the visitors.

Dejan Kulusevski levelled the game before half-time while Yves Bissouma, Alphonse Areola (own-goal) and Son Heung-min all scored within an eight-minute period of the second half to seal the victory for Tottenham.

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Dominic Solanke's FC 25 Ultimate Team has ‘been leaked' and it's the best team on the game by a million miles

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He may have the weight of the Tottenham Hotspur supporters on his shoulders week in week out, but Dominic Solanke still finds time to absolutely smash it on FC 25 Ultimate Team.

The striker made a big money move to Spurs over the summer and is now their main man in attack. He's already got three goals to his name this season, and will be hoping for many, many more as the campaign goes on.

Solanke has already made it clear how much he loves anime, even taking inspiration from the likes of Naruto and Demon Slayer for his goal celebrations. But, if there's one thing he loves more than anime, it may be video games.

Earlier in the season, players like Solanke were gifted their own personalised copy of EA FC 25 as a way of revealing their player ratings for the game this year.

Solanke admitted he would be spending a lot of time on the game, and it seems he wasn't kidding. The 27-year-old's Ultimate Team line-up has been shared by FUTBIN, and it's the kind of team dedicated gamers can only dream of.

It is thought Solanke's team cost an eye-watering 35 million coins to assemble, and it features eight absolute legends of the game.

In goal, Solanke has gone with a modern great in Thibaut Courtois. He's opted for a five-man defence comprised of Cafu, Lilian Thuram, Paolo Maldini, Carlos Alberto, and AC Milan star Theo Hernandez.

Zinedine Zidane and Ruud Gullit pair up in midfield for Solanke's team, while US icon Mia Hamm fills the number 10 role just behind the strikers.

In attack, Solanke has managed to pair up Brazilian legend Ronaldo with perhaps the best player in the world right now, Kylian Mbappe. That frontline alone is believed to be worth around 12 million coins.

FC 25 has not even been on the market for a month yet, and with Solanke's busy schedule, it is almost unfathomable that he's been able to put this team together without spending a considerable sum of real-life money.

Still, with the money he earns at Tottenham, who can blame him for wanting to become an Ultimate Team king?

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Chelsea make subtle badge change guaranteed to wind up Arsenal and Tottenham fans

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Chelsea have fired shots at their London rivals with a subtle badge change that will infuriate fans across the capital city.

The rivalry between each of the Premier League clubs in London are some of the fiercest in the country with the derbies some of the most exciting matches of the season.

With seven of the 20 teams in the 2024/25 Premier League all playing out of London, there is often debates over who is the best team from the capital city.

But now, Chelsea have aimed a dig at their local rivals through a controversial change to their official badge which will no doubt infuriate Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal fans.

In March next year, Chelsea will celebrate their 120th anniversary, a huge milestone which they plan to commemorate with a brand new emblem.

According to The Daily Mail, designers of the new badge have described how it the purpose of the celebration is to symbolise Chelsea's status as "London's true club".

With that in mind, the club's board hired London-based advertising agency Uncommon Creative Studio to create the new logo which sees their famous blue lion positioned above the letters "LDN".

The new badge will not replace the current badge, with club insiders insisting that this would never be done without consulting fans, and will only be used as part of the branding for the 120th anniversary celebrations.

Chelsea submitted their application to register the new badge to the UK Intellectual Property Office in August, giving any other third parties two months to oppose the design.

However, the report claims that no objections were raised during this time, by Chelsea's local Premier League rivals or any other party.

Describing the new badge on social media platform X, Uncommon Creative Studios wrote: "A new icon designed to show Chelsea FC as London’s true club. This new visual identity will continue to come to life across the club, stadium & players throughout the season."

Chelsea supporters can expect to see the new badge displayed across football shirts, scarves, headgear and other forms of merchandise in the coming months leading up to the anniversary.

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Kyle Walker reveals the Premier League club who charge away teams for taking item from the dressing room

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Kyle Walker has revealed the Premier League club who charge away teams for taking an item from the dressing room.

On the latest episode of You'll Never Beat Kyle Walker, the Manchester City star revealed his favourite away dressing room.

The veteran defender has played up and down the country, visiting some of the best stadiums England has to offer.

But one ground in particular stands out above the rest.

When former Sheffield United and Tottenham midfielder Michael Brown asked Walker to name the best away dressing room, he replied: "New Spurs one is incredible."

He added: "You'd take that as a home team dressing room."

The 34-year-old continued as he marveled over the shower gel at Spurs' away dressing room.

However, he went onto reveal that if the shower gel is used, then away teams are charged.

"It's got nice shower gel. Like, you don't have to even bring your shower gel to the showers," he said.

"You can just use theirs. It's fantastic... but I've heard if you do take the shower gel, they do charge the away team."

Brown replied: "I'd take it every single time. Every single time, now I know that. You will have an internal email now about going to Spurs, 'whoever takes it, we're getting charged for it'."

So, there you have it - Spurs have the best away dressing room in the Premier League and fantastic shower gel, according to Walker.

But players visiting the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have been warned; if the shower gel is used, then the away team will be charged.

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