Tottenham Hotspur’s Nigerian-born midfielder, Bamidele Alli will not have the pleasure of being on the opposing end of the pitch against former Super Eagles’ striker, Odion Jude Ighalo, as the England international is suspended for this weekend’s fixture, megasportsarena.com gathered
Expectations had been that Alli could be cleared for the battle against United, who miraculously hooked Ighalo in an extended loan deal till end of January 2021, but the former Milton Keynes Don dazzler has been hit with a one-game ban by the Football Association for his controversial social media post earlier this year in which he appeared to mock an Asian man over coronavirus.
While Ighalo is primed for a piece of action on the first weekend back after the restart of EPL action in midweek, Alli is ruled out, after emerging at the centre of an FA investigation, and will now miss his team’s Project Restart opener against United on Friday.
This comes after disciplinary chiefs slapped Alli with a one match suspension and £50,000 fine and will also be required to undertake an FA educational programme, because he posted a video showing a man of Asian descent with the caption: ‘Corona whatttttt, please listen with volume.’
In the next part of the Snapchat story, the midfielder wears a mask while appearing to feign concern. He then shows a bottle of handwash, accompanied by the caption: ‘This virus gunna have to be quicker than that to catch me.’
Alli deleted the video within minutes of posting it and apologised twice, but the FA deemed the footage to have racial connotations, and he was subsequently slammed with punitive measures, which now rule him out of an on-pitch confrontation with Ighalo.
Sky Sports added: “Dele Alli will miss Tottenham’s return to Premier League action against Manchester United next week after the FA handed him a one-game suspension for a social media post.
“The 24-year-old has also been fined £50,000 and ordered to undertake a face-to-face education course following a breach of FA Rule E3.
“The incident relates to a video posted on the player’s Snapchat account in February in which he appeared to mock an Asian man and joke about the coronavirus outbreak.”
Alli said earlier: “In response to the FA decision, I would like to apologise again for any offence caused by my behaviour. It was an extremely poorly judged joke about a virus that has now affected us more than we could ever have imagined.
“I’m grateful that The FA has confirmed that my actions were not racist because I despise racism of any kind. We all need to be mindful of the words and actions we use and how they can be perceived by others.”
