Dele Alli suspended for Tottenham's fixture against Manchester United over coronavirus social-media video

Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur during the Tottenham Hotspur training session. Photo / Getty Images.

Dele Alli has been banned for the Premier League's restart for "racial stereotyping" in his social-media post mocking an Asian man over coronavirus.

The Tottenham midfielder's one-match suspension rules him out of the match against Manchester United next Friday when Jose Mourinho's resume their campaign. He was also fined £50,000 by the Football Association and ordered to undertake an educational course.

Written reasons published by the FA show Alli felt "betrayed" when a Snapchat video sent to his 160 friends was leaked, showing him wearing a face mask near an Asian man as he waited for a flight to Dubai.

The FA's case did not try to prove Alli was racist but rejected the England international's argument that his victim was targeted for having a cough and "ethnicity was irrelevant".

"The Commission concluded that a moment of sensible reflection by Mr Alli would have led him quickly to the conclusion that (whatever his supposedly humorous intentions) others looking at the selection of the male in the video would have thought the video was clearly implying that there was a link between the virus and those of Asian appearance; a racial stereotyping," read the findings.

OFFICIAL: Dele Alli has been suspended for one game, fined £50,000 and must complete a face-to-face education course following a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to a social media post in February 2020.

He will miss Tottenham's game against Manchester United. pic.twitter.com/OPobHzXRcW

— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) June 11, 2020

Piara Powar, executive director of the Football Against Racism in Europe network, says the FA should view incidents in isolation, rather than looking at motivations.

"We find the FA tribunal often comes out after a sanction and making the judgment that they did not think the individual was racist," he said. "The individual was not being tried for that offence so it is puzzling why they have to make that comment and think they can really understand and represent an individual's motivation.

"That is an area of bad practice the FA needs to address because who are you to judge someone's motivation. Your role is to look at the particular offence and make a judgment on that."

Alli's case included a character reference from Spurs team-mate Kyle Walker-Peters - who is currently on loan at Southampton - insisting the 24-year-old was not racist. At the time China had an outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, even though the disease had not been declared a pandemic.

In his evidence, Dele revealed he was teased for overreacting to the threat of the virus as he prepared to travel from Heathrow on Feb 6, as he had travelled with a mask and hand gel.

"I would like to apologise again for any offence caused by my behaviour," said Dele. "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."

Mourinho backed his player at the time of the charge, insisted "the last thing that Dele is, is anything connected with racism or disrespect". The Spurs boss will now prepare for the United game without his midfielder but will have him back for the midweek clash against West Ham.

Both parties raised Bernardo Silva's one-match ban for a Tweet comparing team-mate Benjamin Mendy to a chocolate sweet. Dele's legal representative, Jim Sturman QC, argued his client's post was "not published on a widely viewed Twitter account".

Last month Alli was robbed in his north London home by intruders and suffered injuries to his face during the ordeal. He was in his home in the north London suburb of Barnet, with his girlfriend Ruby Mae, his brother Harry Hickford; Hickford's partner and another friend.