Son jumps to Tottenham teammate’s rescue amid racism allegations
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur recently came under the scanner owing to alleged racist comments he made against Son Heung-min while speaking on an Uruguayan TV show. There is an investigation from the FA ensuing and if things go against the midfielder, he could miss between six and 12 games for Spurs.
However, Son has jumped to Bentancur’s defence as he revealed that the former Juventus star already apologised to him on a couple of occasions, including immediately after the context of his words emerged in June. The Guardian quoted him saying the below in the pre-match press conference ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s clash with Qarabag in the Europa League:
“At the moment, because of the FA process, I can’t say much about it. But I love Rodrigo, I love him. We’ve a lot of good memories, we started playing together when he joined [in January 2022]. 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 for pre-season, he felt really sorry and he almost cried when he apologised publicly and personally as well. He felt like he was really sorry. We are all human and all make mistakes and we learn from it.”
Son firmly putting the issue to bed suggests that not much is bothering either the forward or those at Tottenham regarding the remarks made by Bentancur, especially given that Ange Postecoglou has also not taken any action against him since the incident occurred.
The fact that Son did not make much of the issue shows his human side which has been appreciated on numerous occasions in the past and it is particularly important for Spurs, who are chasing their first piece of silverware in over a decade.
They have one of the best teams in the Europa League and there is no reason why they would not be able to clinch the continental competition. For that to happen, Son and Bentancur will both be extremely crucial and therefore, it is good news for Tottenham Hotspur.
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Unfortunately for all parties involved, however, not much of what they say can be accounted for in the decision which the FA will make though it is fair to say that a six to 12 match sanction would be far too strict for a matter that has already been settled between the culprit and the supposed victim.