Cristian Romero has been accused by the Football Association of his behavior towards referee John Brooks during Tottenham’s match against Liverpool.
The Football Association has accused Cristian Romero of failing to leave the field promptly during Tottenham’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool, and of inappropriate behavior towards referee John Brooks after he was sent off.
An official statement from the FA said: “Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero was charged following the Premier League match against Liverpool on Saturday, December 20th.
“After being sent off in the 93rd minute, Cristian Romero is said to have behaved inappropriately, including not leaving the field promptly and acting in a confrontational and/or aggressive manner towards the match referee. Cristian Romero has until Friday, January 2, 2026 to respond.”
The deadline is set the day after Spurs’ game against Brentford on New Year’s Day and two days before their home game against Sunderland. Romero is already guaranteed to miss Tottenham’s game against Crystal Palace on December 28 due to the standard one-match suspension for receiving two yellow cards in one match.
Spurs manager Thomas Frank expressed his displeasure at Romero’s red card when speaking to the media after the game. He said: “It shows that there’s probably a reason why the whole team reacted this way. I think that’s probably a good indicator.”
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“Usually if it’s one player’s reaction, if it’s a whole team’s reaction, there’s probably something about it. We’ve all played enough football and seen enough football, so I think there’s probably something related to that.”
“So I don’t know if he was right or wrong with the first yellow. In the second yellow you see two big boys competing. Konate beats Kuti (Romero) completely. It’s a foul. I’m not going to say any more.”
“His foot landed on Kuti’s head. It’s not yellow, I didn’t say that. Kuti reacted. I think it’s given, but I also don’t think it’s given.”
Frank also spoke more about Romero on Tuesday. “We are talking about a player, a very passionate player. When he is at the absolute top, he stands on his back for the team, as he did in the Europa League final. Without him, we would not have won the trophy, as he did away to Newcastle, as he has done so many times.”
“When you’re so passionate, you can lose that extra level of calm for a split second, and sometimes that’s the case with what he’s working on.
“I think my second goal is still a clear foul for some players. And, yeah, I’ve never played at the highest level.
“Everyone who’s played at the highest level knows when there’s a foul, you know it’s a foul. And they’re very, very reactive. This is a clear foul. So he felt he was hit hard.”
“So the mistake he made there was unfortunately he touched John Brooks and ran. So when he touched the referee, unfortunately he should have given a yellow. But let’s say it was a foul. He shouldn’t have given the first yellow. He shouldn’t have given the second yellow.”
“The second yellow was obviously Kuti’s mistake and he agrees with that. But before that he was a player who competed very passionately in the first corner, he competed in that duel, and in the second duel when we scored to make it 2-1. So you have to accept that if you have passionate players, that’s part of it.”
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