October 3 – Manchester City’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association over a tweet he sent to team-mate Benjamin Mendy.
Silva compared Mendy to the character on a packet of Conguitos – a sweet brand available in Spain and Portugal.
Silva is alleged to have committed an “aggravated breach” of FA rules as it included reference “expressed or implied, to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin”.
Silva has until October 9 to respond.
The two City stars are close friends but the tweet was quickly deleted and replaced with another which stated: “Can’t even joke with a friend these days….”
Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out denounced what it described as a “racist stereotype” that could not be accepted as mere banter but City manager Pep Guardiola defended Silva and said no punitive action should be taken by the authorities since the two players were good friends and the incident had “nothing to do with colour of skin or nationality.”
But the English FA took a different view even though Mendy has written in support of Silva, saying he did not take offence at the tweet.
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