Ange Postecoglou breaks silence on Rodrigo Bentancur ban and Tottenham's decision to appeal

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Ange Postecoglou has stated that he "fully supports" Tottenham's decision to appeal Rodrigo Bentancur's seven-match ban. Earlier this week, an independent regulatory commission gave the Spurs midfielder a seven-game suspension, a £100,000 fine and also ordered him to attend a mandatory face-to-face education programme for comments he made during an interview which contained a racial slur regarding Son Heung-min.

Tottenham released a statement on Wednesday afternoon confirming that they have appealed against the length of Bentancur's suspension, something they believe is "severe". Spurs confirmed in the statement that they do accept they guilty finding against Bentancur by the independent regulatory commission.

Bentancur will now miss Tottenham's next seven domestic fixtures but he will be able to feature for the team in their upcoming Europa League ties against Roma and Rangers. Speaking to Sky Sports about Bentancur's ban and Tottenham's appeal, Postecoglou admitted that his player, who he has described as an "outstanding person" and "unbelievable teammate," is prepared to accept whatever penalty comes his way.

"It's disappointing because he's been great for us this year," said the 59-year-old. "He's one of the ones whose football has gone up a level. But we understood this was kind of coming and there was an acceptance from everyone that whatever the sort of penalties were… I fully support the club's decision to appeal the severity of the ban, but ultimately we know it's going to be for X number of games.

"We will work with Rodrigo through that and make sure within that time he has all our support in all the right ways so when he is available again he's ready to go.

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"I haven't spoken to him since it came out. He's been away with Uruguay and he's not quite back yet. I'd spoken to him in the lead-up to it. As I said at the time, he understands he has made a mistake, he's prepared to accept whatever penalty comes his way and we as a club are going to support him.

"The one thing that's undeniable to me, because I know him, is he's an outstanding person. He's an unbelievable teammate. He's a person of the upmost character that has made a mistake. I think when that happens our role is to support him in any way we can."

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