Aleksandar Tonev, the Aston Villa midfielder currently on loan at Celtic, has today been banned by the Scottish Football Association's disciplinary tribunal for seven matches after being found guilty of a racist comment.
The Bulgarian was found guilty of breaching the SFA's "Disciplinary Rule 202: Excessive Misconduct by the use of offensive, insulting and abusive language of a racist nature" and banned for seven matches.
Celtic immediately backed their player and confirmed they would appeal.
Tonev was alleged to have abused Shay Logan, the Aberdeen goalkeeper, during Celtic's 2-1 SPFL Premiership match at Celtic Park on September 13, and the visitors reported the incident to referee Bobby Madden after the game.
Logan complained that Tonev told him: "Get your hands off me, you black ****."
Tonev attended today's hearing - deferred from October 9 because of his international commitments - in the company of John Collins, the Celtic assistant manager, and it was reported that Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes was also present.
In a statement on Celtic's official website, a club spokesperson said: "Racism has no place in football and as a club for all people, Celtic absolutely abhors racism of any kind.
"This was a very unfortunate case, but the club has accepted Aleksandar's explanation that he did not say the words that were alleged to have been said and that he is not a racist.
"We are, therefore, very disappointed by the outcome today and can confirm that Aleksandar will be appealing this decision."
To date he has only started two Premiership games for Celtic, making ten appearances in all, without scoring. Villa paid Lech Poznan £2.5m for his signature in the summer of 2013.
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