Borussia Moenchengladbach striker Marcus Thuram was on Sunday fined a month’s salary by the club, for spitting on an opponent the previous day, reported AFP.
Moenchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl said in a statement, “Marcus has accepted this and has also offered to engage with this social cause on his own behalf.”
Thuram was sent off after a video review showed him spitting in the face of Hoffenheim’s Stefan Posch, as the two argued during a Bundesliga match.
Hoffenheim scored a late goal against a 10-man Gladbach and won 2-1.
In an Instagram post, Thuram said, “Today something took place that is not in my character and must never happen,” adding that the spit “occurred accidentally and not intentionally.”
He said, “I apologise to everyone, to Stefan Posch, to my opponents, to my team-mates, to my family and to all those who saw my reaction.”
In addition to the club fine, which will paid to a charity, Thuram faces a long ban from the German Football Association.
According to Eberl, he had a “long discussion” with Thuram on Sunday morning and that the player was “devastated”.
Thuram “told me that during a dispute with Stefan Posch, he had unintentionally spat after cursing several times in French in the heat of the moment. He knows that this doesn’t change anything and that the pictures speak for themselves, and that the sending off was the right call,” Eberl added.
Eberl said, “I have come to know him as a reflective person with a great demeanour. He remains the same person we know, and we will stand by him.”
