Cristian Volpato has been fined AU$722 — roughly $520 — after New South Wales police pulled him over on Sydney's Anzac Bridge on July 24 and returned a positive roadside reading for cocaine. A second sample taken at the scene also came back positive.
No further action will follow. But the story doesn't end quite so cleanly for the 22-year-old.
Volpato's side of it
The Socceroos midfielder told Football Australia staff he never knowingly took the substance. When he returned to Italy, he tested negative — Sassuolo confirmed that much. So now you've got conflicting results, a public denial, and a fine that's been paid. Make of that what you will.
What it doesn't change: Volpato is still one of the more interesting young players in Australian football. He switched international allegiance from Italy to Australia just before the World Cup — a decision that stung Italian football given their third consecutive failure to qualify — and made an immediate impact as the Socceroos pushed into the knockout stages. The timing of that switch aged beautifully for him.
Right now, though, his Sassuolo season is already running into turbulence. Three appearances, and he didn't finish the most recent one — a match against Bologna on Monday — due to a reported hamstring injury. That's the more pressing concern for anyone tracking his form or Sassuolo's Serie A campaign. A hamstring issue early in the season can unravel a player's rhythm for months.
The fine is settled. The injury is not.
