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The England Football Association suspended Uruguayan international striker Edinson Cavani for three matches on Thursday and fined him £ 100,000 for using a racist term in a social media post that was quickly deleted.

Cavani, 33, responded to a congratulation from a friend of his on Instagram with “Gracias Negrito” (thanks, little lions) after beating Southampton 3-2 in the domestic league on November 29, in a match where the Paris striker has scored. The former Frenchman from Saint-Germain doubled down and played.

Cavani quickly erased the message, as United rushed to defend their new striker, believing the word had different connotations in South America.

Cavani was informed that these terms are considered offensive in Britain, prompting him to delete what he wrote before apologizing later, saying: “The letter I wrote. .. was like a warm greeting to a friend, thanking him for the congratulations after the game. “

He added in a statement that he had never intended to insult anyone, adding: “I am against all racist language and behavior, and I deleted the post as soon as I did. was informed that it could be misunderstood. I sincerely apologize. “

However, the FA considered that it had violated regulations prohibiting all “inappropriate behavior” on social networks, with the aggravating circumstances indicated by “the color, race and / or ethnicity of another person”.

With his suspension, Cavani will miss United’s matches against Aston Villa in Friday’s league, the League Cup semi-final against Manchester City and the Cup third round against Watford.

The Football Association tightened penalties at the start of the season after issuing pre-launch instructions to curb racist language and behavior, while fixing the penalty for insults on social media by suspending at least three games.

In 2011, another Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez, who played for Liverpool, was suspended for eight matches for using the Spanish term “negro” (black) when he spoke with Manchester United defender Patrice Evra during of the match of the two teams.

The independent disciplinary committee ruled at the time that although Suarez, who currently defends the colors of Atlético de Madrid, was not racist, his speech constituted a racist insult.