Bernardo Silva given one-match ban by FA

Portuguese winger will miss Chelsea clash for social media post

Bernardo Silva has been banned for one match and fined £50,000 for a social media message sent to close friend Benjamin Mendy.

An FA commission agreed that the tweet, in which Silva compared a picture of Mendy as a child to a cartoon character used on a Portuguese confectionary brand, was not "in any way racist".

The Kick It Out charity said in a statement that they also accepted that Silva did not intend any offence.City are understood to be unhappy at the FA's decision, but have decided not to appeal in case the punishment was increased.

The FA report said: "Many persons would have taken offence to the content."

It added: "The player did not himself intend the post to be insulting or in any way racist. It is clear that the tweet was intended to be no more than a joke between close friends.

"However, this was not a private communication between two friends.

"The post was on a social media platform exposed to the 600,000 followers of a high-profile and well-respected professional footballer.

"Many persons viewing the imagery depicted in the tweet would have taken offence to the content as being insulting by reference to race, colour and ethnic origin in a way that unquestionably brings the game of football into disrepute."