Ghana forward Kevin-Prince Boateng and eight other players of AC Monza have expressed deepest remorse for breaking Covid-19 rules by making a trip to a casino in Switzerland.
Monza is close to the Swiss border and a group of eight players made a day trip over to gamble at the casino in Lugano.
The players were initially told to self-isolate after the club became aware of their actions, then when they were given the all-clear to play this weekend against Salernitana, Monza dropped them anyway as punishment.
The eight players – Armando Anastasio, Marco Armellino, Antonino Barillà, Giuseppe Bellusci, Davide Bettella, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Giulio Donati and Christian Gytkjaer – wrote an open letter of apology to the club and fans.
“It was meant to be a bit of fun. We honestly didn’t think that we were doing anything to damage the fans, the club, the staff or our teammates.
“Unfortunately, all of us under-estimated the implications, otherwise we’d without doubt have taken other options into consideration to spend our afternoon off.”
Monza are fighting to earn promotion to the Italian Serie A this season.
The Biancorossi are sitting 4th on the Serie B table with 55 points – five points adrift of 3rd place side Salernitana – with four matches to end the campaign.