Tottenham star Dele Alli hopes to avoid FA ban by claiming coronavirus post was private

Dele Alli is hoping to avoid a ban from the Football Association for his video mocking the coronavirus outbreak because it was not shared on a public forum.

The Tottenham midfielder was on Wednesday hit with a misconduct charge for an aggravated breach of FA Rule E3 but he is considering an appeal, which would allow him to make his case at a personal hearing.

Alli believes his case is different to that of Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva — who was fined £50,000 and banned for one match in November for a tweet about team-mate Benjamin Mendy — because he posted the video to a private Snapchat group, rather than on a public forum.

The video was copied and sold to a national newspaper, with Alli said to be unsure who was behind the leak.

In a statement on Silva’s ruling, the FA pointed out the Portuguese’s tweet “was not a private communication between two friends [but a] post...on a social media platform exposed to the 600,000 followers”, which would appear to support Alli’s defence.

Alli, 23, who has twice apologised for his post — including in a video sent to Chinese social media site Weibo — believes the FA should acknowledge the video’s initial audience when deciding a punishment.

Alli also apologised straight away, where as Silva later tweeted: “Can’t even joke with a friend these days... You guys...”.

Alli has until next Thursday to appeal the charge, after which an FA commission has 10 working days to decide the case’s outcome.

The video showed Alli wearing a face mask in an airport departure lounge ahead of a trip to Dubai during Tottenham’s winter-break, accompanied by the message: “Corona whattt, please listen with volume.”