Tottenham star Rodrigo Bentancur dealt huge blow as four-match suspension upheld

Tottenham's Rodrigo Bentancur will be unavailable for Uruguay's next four games under the CONMEBOL umbrella after his suspension, handed out after their clash against Colombia descended into chaos, was upheld.

Following his nation's 1-0 defeat to Colombia in the Copa America group stages, a number of Uruguay players, including Bentancur and Liverpool's Darwin Nunez, entered the stands where supporters had been brawling close to where the players’ families were seated.

In the wake of the incident,

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Napoli’s Mathias Olivera, Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo and Atletico Madrid’s Josema Gimenez meanwhile, will be banned for three Uruguay games in CONMEBOL if their suspensions are not overturned.

Attempts to do so began in September but they were upheld, however a suspension of those sanctions was granted the following month for a new hearing to take place. The outcome of that came to light on Tuesday with the Athletic revealing CAS rejected the players' defence.

“The principle of self-defence does not apply and … the conduct of the players constituted a voluntary, violent and unjustified action," it stated.

Bentancur has endured a challenging last 12 months with injuries and another ban seeing him struggle to get into a rhythm of games. That domestic suspension arrived in December after he was punished by the FA for using a racial slur when referencing teammate Son Heung-min.

A suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards followed almost immediately after that seven-game ban concluded with injury striking as well.

The 27-year-old has been able to build some consistency since February however, and he has been instrumental in Spurs reaching the Europa League final.

Alongside both Lucas Bergvall and Yves Bissouma, he has been a constant in Ange Postecoglou's favoured midfield three with every minute played in Europe since he served another suspension for the last-16 second leg win over AZ Alkmaar.

Bentancur and his teammates will now be preparing for the showpiece clash against Manchester United in Bilbao later this month.

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