Mikel Arteta’s language let-off! Arsenal boss escapes ban from the FA after claiming a difference in definitions between Spanish word ‘desgracia’ and ‘disgrace’ and he didn’t mean to insult Newcastle ref

Mikel Arteta will not be punished for his comments after Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle last month, an FA statement has confirmed.

Arteta was charged by the FA on November 16 for labelling the decision to allow Anthony Gordon’s winning goal ’embarrassing’ and ‘a disgrace’ following a VAR check of over four minutes.

But an independent investigation has concluded that he did not breach the FA’s rules and will not be sanctioned.

The FA statement on Thursday afternoon read: ‘An independent Regulatory Commission has found the charge against Mikel Arteta for an alleged breach of FA Rule E3.1 to be not proven.’

The FA provided written reasons for the verdict, which included Arteta claiming that his use of the word ‘disgrace’ had been misinterpreted as a similar word in Spanish has a different meaning.

In Spanish, the word ‘desgracia’ has connotations of ‘misfortune, tragedy or bad luck’, while the English word ‘disgrace’ has connotations of ‘abuse or insult’.

Arteta insisted in his response to the FA charge that he had not meant to insult referee Stuart Attwell, and this explanation was accepted by the panel. 

More to follow…