Daniel Maldini: From Match Winner to Drink-Driving Investigation

Daniel Maldini’s weekend swung from heroics to scandal in the space of a few hours.

On Saturday, the 24-year-old stepped up in Bergamo and buried the decisive penalty that gave Cagliari a precious 2-1 win over Atalanta. By dawn on Sunday, he was at the centre of a police investigation in Milan, his name no longer tied to three points, but to a serious road accident and an alleged drink-driving offence.

From match winner to police case

The incident occurred at around 5:15 a.m. on Sunday in Milan. Maldini was driving a Porsche Carrera when it collided with another vehicle. Six people suffered minor injuries in the crash, among them the Cagliari forward himself.

He was taken to hospital for checks and was discharged later the same day. The real damage, though, came from what the police say they found at the roadside.

Local police sources, speaking to Reuters, reported that Maldini failed two alcohol tests. The first showed a blood alcohol level of 0.91 grams per litre, the second 0.89. Italian law sets the limit at 0.5 grams per litre. He was close to double that.

The response was immediate. Authorities suspended his driving licence on the spot after the positive test.

Negative drug test, licence gone

Maldini also underwent a drug test. On Monday, Cagliari confirmed that this test came back completely negative and that the player is expected to resume training as normal as the club prepares for its upcoming fixtures.

An Italian security source cited by Reuters indicated that the official results of the police drug analysis will not be available for another three or four days, leaving a formal conclusion to the case still pending.

A rising name under a heavy surname

The episode lands at a delicate moment in Maldini’s career. Once on the books at Milan, and with spells at Atalanta and Lazio, he has now settled at Cagliari and is viewed as one of the promising names in Italian football. He already has six caps for Italy and carries the weight of one of the sport’s most famous surnames as the son of Paolo Maldini, regarded as one of the greatest defenders the game has seen.

On Saturday night, Daniel Maldini looked like a young player stepping out of a giant shadow with a cool, match-winning penalty. By Sunday morning, he was confronting a very different kind of spotlight, and one that will now follow him well beyond this weekend’s result.