‘I would never use racist language’, insists Leeds United’s Kiko Casilla after eight-game FA ban

After a two-day hearing an independent panel has decided that on the balance of probability the Spanish goalkeeper made reference to Congolese forward Jonathan Leko’s race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin in a game against Charlton Athletic in September.

Casilla will miss Saturday’s game against Hull City, and matches against Huddersfield Town (home), Cardiff City (away), Fulham (home), Luton Town (home), Blackburn Rovers (away), Stoke City (home) and Swansea City (away). He has also been fined £60,000.

Although Leeds will not appeal, Casilla is not accepting guilt either.

In a lengthy Twitter statement he said: “I am sure my family, friends, colleagues and the different technical teams who I have been working with (throughout) my professional career know that I would NEVER use words with a racist meaning, and my respectful behaviour towards my opponents since I started my career has been honest and with the maximum sense of fair play.”

He also said the “last five months have been the most difficult in my professional career and I do not feel at all that the guilty verdict is a clear reflection of the incident.”

The 33-year-old’s poor form had led to calls for him to be dropped during a difficult run of two wins in 12 matches, but he has come out of it with three consecutive clean sheets in as many matches, all won 1-0. His 15 clean sheets are the most by a Championship goalkeeper this season.

Illan Meslier will deputise at Hull. The 19-year-old is on a season-long loan from Lorient and impressed at Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup, his only senior appearance.

In a statement, Leeds said: “We would like to make it clear that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination within our football club and we are a leader in the fight against discrimination within our wider community.”

The commission will publish its written reasons next week.

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