Italian star gets cocaine ban

Serie A star Jonathan Bachini was today suspended for nine months after testing positive for cocaine following a league match.

The midfielder failed a test after a match agianst Lazio in September, and his club, Brescia, now intends to sack him.

The experienced player, twice capped by Italy, was handed the ban by Italian football’s disciplinary committee.

He did not contest the validity of the test but claimed that he had never knowingly taken the banned substance.

Brescia’s director of sport, Gianluca Nani, said the player’s contract would now be torn up, following the line of Chelsea, who axed Adrian Mutu last month after he returned a positive sample for the same drug.

Bachini, 29, has previously played for Udinese, Juventus, Lecce and Parma.