Cristian Volpato has been fined 722 Australian dollars — roughly $520 — after a roadside drug test on Sydney's Anzac Bridge came back positive for cocaine. New South Wales police pulled him over on July 24, a second sample confirmed the result, and now it's on his record.
The 22-year-old Sassuolo midfielder isn't going quietly on the facts, though. Volpato told Football Australia staff he never knowingly ingested the substance, and when he returned to Italy, Sassuolo officials reported his test there came back clean. That inconsistency won't erase the fine, but it does complicate the narrative.
Where things stand for club and country
No further action will be taken by police. But Volpato has bigger concerns right now: he was forced off against Bologna on Monday with a reported hamstring injury, having managed just three appearances for Sassuolo this season. A midfielder who can't finish games isn't much use to anyone, and Sassuolo — already navigating life in a competitive Serie A mid-table — can't afford to carry passengers through a stop-start season.
For the Socceroos, this is an awkward footnote for a player who only switched his international allegiance from Italy to Australia just before last year's World Cup. That gamble paid off — he made a notable impact as Australia pushed deep into the knockout stages, a run that Italy, pointedly, couldn't even qualify to witness for the third consecutive tournament.
Volpato's betting on himself to get out from under this quickly. Whether the hamstring lets him do that is a more pressing question than the fine.
