DOMAGOJ VIDA’S DECISION to open a beer on the Dinamo Zagreb team bus on the way to a Croatian Cup match proved an expensive one as the defender was fined €100,000 on Tuesday by the Croatian champions.
“Domagoj Vida was punished over his unsportsmanlike behaviour,” the club said in a statement on its internet site.
The amount represents a quarter of the 23-year old’s annual salary and could have bought him 50,000 bottles of local beer in any Zagreb bar, local media reported.
Dinamo gave no details on the incident, but local media reported that the defender could not resist opening a can of beer on the team bus en route to the western town of Vrsar for a cup match on Monday.
According to the on-line edition of Vecernji List daily, Vida was ordered off the bus immediately by coach Ante Cacic after opening the can.
The fine illustrates Dinamo Zagreb’s determination not to tolerate any more excessive behaviour from its players.
In early August Jorge Campos was fined twice for a total amount of €270,000, while Nikola Pokrivac had to pay €20,000 for having boozy nights out, several days before an important match against Moldovan club Sheriff Tiraspol, in a third preliminary round of the Champion League.
