Bernardo Silva has been charged by the FA regarding his social media post to teammate Benjamin Mendy.
Silva caused controversy by tweeting a picture of a black cartoon character alongside Mendy as a youngster.
He wrote to the FA to apologise for any offence caused but faces a potential six-match ban after the charge.
An FA statement read: "Bernardo Silva has been charged with misconduct for a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to a social media post on 22 September 2019.
"It is alleged that the Manchester City player’s activity breaches FA Rule E3(1) as it was insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.
"It is further alleged that the activity constitutes an “Aggravated Breach”, which is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as it included reference, whether expressed or implied, to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin.
"The midfielder has until 9 October 2019 to provide a response."
Despite coming in for criticism, Silva has been given support by boss Pep Guardiola and teammate Raheem Sterling.
“Regarding Bernardo, I was incredibly clear,” said Guardiola. “If they believe that Bernardo is this type of player, they are completely wrong.
“They judge on one joke, I judge on every day and how he is, his friendship over three years. Nothing more to add. We judge intentions and I know the intention of Bernardo.
“Maybe he saw the comments and thought 'I don’t want to be involved in that' and deleted it.
“It was just a joke. Benjamin is like a brother to Bernardo and it's the same the other way. It's what I see every day in training.
“If someone is affected or feels bad about that tweet or any comments, it can happen. People judging Bernardo don’t know him.
“He's an exceptional person, exceptional. He likes to be involved in different situations. It was just a joke. The same happened a thousand times with white people. It was a cartoon.
“If people think it’s the opposite, then Bernardo and City are open to talking about it. But put the focus on other things, not Bernardo.
“If someone is offended, I can understand it. Bernardo is maybe going to take a lesson and it won’t happen again.”
