Manchester United forward Edinson Cavani has been handed a minimum 3 match ban for an Instagram post that contained an offensive Spanish phrase. The Uruguayan has since deleted the post and apologies for any offence the post may have caused.
The 33-year-old made the post after scoring an injury time winner against Southampton, in which Cavani scored his Second and third goals for the club.
The FA in a statement said, “It is alleged that, contrary to FA Rule E3.1, a comment posted on the Manchester United FC player’s Instagram page was insulting and/or abusive and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute,”
“It is further alleged that the comment constitutes an ‘Aggravated Breach’, which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included reference, whether express or implied, to colour and/or race and/or ethnic origin.”
Cavani has until Monday 4th January to appeal the decision and to provide a response to the charges in question. Although Man United have advised that they are looking to appeal, they stand by the fact that they are 100% against any form of racisim and believe there was no malice intended on the post.
A statement was released by the club saying, “Manchester United and all of our players are fully committed to the fight against racism and we will continue to work with the FA – along with other governing bodies and organisations, and through our own campaigns – in that regard,”
“We note the FA decision today to charge Edinson Cavani for his social media reply to a friend’s message of congratulations following the Southampton game. Edinson and the club were clear that there was absolutely no malicious intent behind the message, which he deleted and apologised for as soon as he was informed that it could have been misconstrued.
“The player and the club will now consider the charge and respond to the FA accordingly.”
Cavani also put out the following post after deleting the original post in question apologising. He said, “It was intended as an affectionate greeting to a friend, thanking him for his congratulations after the game. The last thing I wanted to do was cause offence to anyone.
“I am completely opposed to racism and deleted the message as soon as it was explained that it can be interpreted differently.” A decision on to how long the forward will miss has not been determined but has not featured for Man United since their 3-1 win over West Ham earlier this month.
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