Postecoglou defends Tottenham's right to appeal Bentancur's seven-match ban

Ange Postecoglou has defended Tottenham's right to appeal Rodrigo Bentancur's seven-match ban.

'I get that people want to burn people at the stake nowadays,' said Postecoglou. 'But part of this process if you want real education and progress is to understand that when somebody makes a mistake and they pay the penalty, part of that is education and hopefully treating them in the way that people see that's a way forward, whether it's Rodrigo or anyone else.

'I'm old enough in life to have made bigger mistakes than that, but I was allowed to learn from them and hopefully I'm a better human being because of that.'

Bentancur was banned for seven games by the FA this week for making racially aggravated comments made on Uruguayan TV in June, in the form of an ill-judged riposte about Spurs captain Son Heung-min that all Koreans look the same.

He will start the ban against Manchester City on Saturday but Tottenham have lodged an appeal about its severity, a move which has drawn criticism.

'I'm not interested in looks,' said Postecoglou. 'He's said he's made a mistake. We'll accept whatever penalty comes our way. We believe that the first one was a little bit harsh, so we've appealed which I think is our right.

'We still have a judicial process. That's why appeals are there. We're not going outside the jurisdiction, we're not trying to create something that's not available to us. We think it was harsh, we think it should have have been the minimum and we'll go through that process. If it's deemed not then we'll accept that.'

Bentancur will return to domestic action on Boxing Day at Nottingham Forest unless Spurs are successful in getting the ban reduced. He can play in the Europa League.

Cristian Romero has also been ruled out of the game at City. Micky van de Van, Wilson Odobert, Richarlison and Mikey Moore are also out.