Neto, insults to the referee in his last game in Brazil: he will miss Cagliari v Juve through suspension

Luciano Spalletti will not only be without Locatelli, Yildiz, Thuram and Grabara for Juventus’ match in Cagliari, scheduled for tomorrow evening at 20.45 at the Unipol Domus Arena. He will also have to do without Norberto Neto. Juventus brought the Brazilian back a couple of weeks ago, after his last spell at Botafogo ended and with the keeper available on a free, specifically to replace the incredibly unlucky Polish goalkeeper. But because of a suspension picked up in Brazil, he will not travel to Sardinia with his new team-mates. That leaves Pinsoglio and Radu alongside first-choice Vicario in the Juventus goalkeeping roster.

What happened - The incident dates back to 30 May, when Botafogo visited Bahia in the 18th round of the Brasileirao. The home side sat between qualification for the Copa Sudamericana and a place in the Libertadores qualifiers, while Neto’s team were chasing possible access to the second continental cup but sat only three points above the relegation zone. In the second of the seven minutes of first-half stoppage time, with Botafogo ahead, the goalkeeper now at Juve gathered the ball and kept hold of it for too long. More than eight seconds, according to the young referee Davi de Oliveira Lacerda, who applied the new rule and awarded a corner to Bahia. Neto then lost his head, as he himself would admit while apologising on social media in the following days, and began insulting the match official.

—

The suspension - "Son of a bitch... f*** off, kid," Davi de Oliveira Lacerda wrote in his report before showing him the red card. That proved to be Neto’s final act for Botafogo, with the championship then stopping and his contract not being renewed. The Brazilian goalkeeper was summoned before the Superior Court of Sports Justice on a charge of "offence to the honour of the refereeing team", which carries a minimum four-match suspension. His lawyers, however, convinced the judges to downgrade the charge to "simple offence", resulting in a one-match suspension, to be served in Cagliari.