torino
An own goal, unprecedented and without excuses. The party in the middle of the red zone, during the curfew and with Covid outbreaks sprouting like mushrooms throughout Turin, will cost Paulo Dybala, Arthur and Weston McKennie dearly. There is not only the pecuniary sanction of Juventus waiting for the three players, identified and fined by the carabinieri on Wednesday night in the villa in the hills of the American midfielder for having violated the anti-Covid rules, but the exclusion from the squad for tomorrow’s derby evening.
The decision will be made official today by coach Andrea Pirlo on the eve of the match, but the Juventus club is ready to use an iron fist. Juve are furious about what happened at McKennie’s house, a party with more than ten people present, without respecting the anti-contagion rules. Yesterday the three did not train at Continassa and unofficially were suspended until Sunday, while the corporate fine could touch up to 25% of the gross monthly salary: they dance hundreds of thousands of euros in addition to a fool that made even more angry the Juventus fans after a failed season.
Paulo Dybala, struck by the virus a year ago and testimonial of the Piedmont Region for the battle against Covid, tried to apologize via social media. “I know that in such a difficult moment in the world for Covid it would have been better not to be wrong – he wrote on Instagram -, but I was wrong to stay out for dinner. It wasn’t a party, but I made a mistake all the same and I apologize ».
The Argentine Joya was ready to return to the field three months after the injury, waiting to understand how the long tug-of-war for the contract renewal will end, but now a round has to be stopped for disciplinary reasons. Same fate for the Brazilian midfielder Arthur, who was pinched last weekend in Dubai for an unjustified “vacation”, and for his colleague McKennie who scored his first goal for Juventus in the first leg against Toro. They tried to justify themselves by saying it was just a dinner with a game of poker with mates.
The club has always asked for responsible attitudes from its members and will intervene. These are heavy absences for Pirlo, who in defense must also renounce the positive Demiral and Bonucci as well as the suspended Buffon, but after such a fool the red card is inevitable. It would not be the first time of an exemplary punishment by Juve against their own player, there is the precedent of Caceres (out of the squad for 2 weeks in September 2015 after a car accident) or the stool of Bonucci in Porto (February 2017) in addition to Pogba punished for late training (November 2012), but three out in one fell swoop had never seen each other. –