There has been a stir in Italy over a video of an apparently intoxicated Arturo Vidal. The 34-year-old Internazionale midfielder can be seen sitting on his Ferrari and then rolling back. The video dates according to the Corriere della Sera of August 18, three days before the start of the competition.
During Inter’s first league match against Genoa, Vidal came in as a substitute. In the 21 minutes he played in the 4-0 home game, the Chilean midfielder scored a goal and an assist. La Gazzetta dello Sport writes that Vidal’s employer Inter was already aware of the video and discussed it with him in August.
Stasera in esclusiva dalle ore 20 su Telelombardia e Top Calcio 24 tutti i retroscena riguardanti il video su #Vidal che sta girando sui social pic.twitter.com/5qio6YgR1w
— QSVS (@QSVS_Official) October 5, 2021
It is therefore not immediately clear why the video has now come out. The video filmed from a balcony shows how Vidal leaves a cafe with a number of people around him. The midfielder then climbs onto the back of his Ferrari – with which he had posted a photo on social media earlier that day – and rolls back, after which he lays down for a while. “He can’t even get up,” can be heard on the video. Finally, Vidal gets into the car as a co-driver.
Former teammate Giorgio Chiellini previously called his drinking ‘a weakness’ of Vidal. “Vidal sometimes went out and drank more than was good for him. Everyone knew that. Alcohol was his weakness. But that says nothing about the champion or person he is. Every person has his weaknesses. I remember well that we were in the United States to prepare for the new season.”
Mientras yo sepa quien soy, no le doy importancia a los que digan los demás!!!???????????????? pic.twitter.com/CRnJv6ZPCq
— Arturo Vidal (@kingarturo23) August 18, 2021
“We were in Miami and each got their own key to the hotel. The next morning Arturo was nowhere to be seen. He lay in bed, completely exhausted. Antonio Conte wanted to kick him out of the selection, to set an example. But at the next practice, when Arturo still seemed drunk, he raged like crazy. He beat everyone in a sprint practice. What can you say about him then?” said Chiellini. Vidal was discredited several times due to alleged excesses while intoxicated.
For example, he is said to have appeared drunk at training for the Chilean national team in 2015, after he had already had an accident with his Ferrari in his home country after a nighttime visit to a casino. During his stint at Bayern Munich – between 2015 and 2018 – reported BILD several times about Vidal’s forays into nightlife. According to the German boulevard newspaper, Vidal once hit someone in the head with a vodka bottle of 515 euros after an argument in a nightclub in Munich.