Cristiano Ronaldo Faces Two Year Ban?
Portugal and Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo risked a two-year ban due to anti-doping regulations from Italian football authorities as a result of his furious reaction to being substituted in a game against AC Milan over the weekend at the Allianz stadium.
Football Italia report that the 34-year-old left the stadium in disgust three minutes before full-time in Saturday’s 1-0 victory.
Ex-Italy striker Antonio Cassano has warned that if Ronaldo did leave the match early for any reason then he risks violating anti-doping control rules.
The 37-year-old experienced a similar scenario himself during his playing career at Roma during a derby against bitter rivals Lazio and had to be forced back.
“You can’t do that because there is an anti-doping control. I had to go back to the stadium urgently to avoid a two-year ban. ” Cassano explained.
Ronaldo was replaced in the 55th-minute on Saturday, his earliest substitution since he joined Juventus at the start of last season and the first time he has been replaced twice in succession.
He was also substituted during midweek Champions League win at Lokomotiv Moscow.
“All players who are trying to give their best will have at least five minutes of being annoyed when they are substituted, but a coach would in general be much more worried if he didn’t seem upset.”
“He did everything possible to play, but I saw he was not well and thought it best to take him off.” said Sarri after the weekend encounter where Ronaldo’s replacement Paulo Dybala netted the important winner to keep the Old Lady in pole position.
By Gerald Dandah
