Silva banned over Mendy tweet

Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva has been handed a one-match ban and a £50,000 fine from the FA for his controversial tweet to Benjamin Mendy.

Silva was originally charged with misconduct by the FA in October after the Portuguese tweeted an image of a young Mendy alongside an image of the brand mascot of Spanish confectionery brand Conguitos, with the caption “Guess who?” on September 22.

The 25-year-old then deleted the post prior to tweeting a follow-up response to say: “Can’t even joke with a friend these days… You Guys…”.

An FA statement on Wednesday read: “Bernardo Silva has been suspended for one first-team competitive fixture, fined £50,000 and must complete face-to-face education after admitting a breach of FA Rule E3.

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“The Manchester City midfielder’s social media activity on 22 September 2019 breached FA Rule E3(1), as it was insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute, and constituted an “Aggravated Breach”, which is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as it included reference, whether expressed or implied, to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin.”

Anti-racism charity Kick It Out called out Silva for the tweet, whilst his former club Benfica defended the midfielder following his social media activity at the time.

The winger could have been hit with a six-match ban from the FA following the incident.

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Silva’s manager Pep Guardiola backed him twice following his actions, while his team-mate Raheem Sterling said: “Bernardo made a joke to his friend.”