Bernardo banned over Mendy tweet
BERNARDO Silva will be forced to sit out the City game with Chelsea as part of his punishment for a breach of FA rules.
The Blues forward admitted that his tweet to Benjamin Mendy, which likened an old picture of the French defender to a controversial caricature cartoon character used to promote Spanish chocolate brand Conguitos, brought the game into disrepute.
It was categorised as an ‘aggravated breach’ for reference to race, colour, or ethnic origin.
As a result, Bernardo will now miss one game as well as having to pay a £50,000 fine and complete face-toface education.
In the written reasons, the FA Regulatory Commission explained that while the player did not intend the post to be insulting and it was received in good spirits by Mendy, the public nature of the tweet meant that it was open for many others to interpret.
“By his plea, the player accepts that whilst he was ignorant of the adverse historical
FA Regulatory Commission
connotations of the Conguitos character, and that he had not intended the post in any way to be offensive, he acknowledges that others would do so,” it reads.
“With what he calls ‘hindsight’ in his statement dated 21 October 2019, the player accepts that ‘the tweet has been considered offensive.’ That analysis is certainly correct. Many persons viewing the imagery depicted in the tweet would have taken offence to the content as being insulting by reference to race, colour and ethnic origin in a way that unquestionably brings the game of football into disrepute.
“Bernardo Silva, aged 25, is correctly described before the Commission as being of ‘exemplary’ previous good character. It is clear to the Commission that the player regretted his actions.”
Many persons viewing the imagery depicted in the tweet would have taken offence