Cagliari forward Leonardo Pavoletti has been ruled out for six more months after re-injuring his left knee while joking around with team mates outside a restaurant.
The Sardinian club said on Wednesday that the 31-year-old had undergone an operation in Innsbruck, Austria, after suffering fresh anterior cruciate ligament damage to his left knee earlier this month.
Pavoletti first suffered the injury in the opening game of the season at Brescia where he was taken off at halftime. As he was close to making his comeback, he re-injured it.
"We came out of the restaurant, we start joking around and pushing each other," he told a news conference last week, denying media reports there had been a fight.
"I felt my knee give way and found myself on the ground without really knowing why... It was just bad luck."
Pavoletti, who has scored 29 goals in 69 appearances, is now out for the rest of the season.
Cagliari said in a statement that Pavoletti would remain "under observation in hospital for a few days and will start the established rehabilitation process next week with a predicted recovery time of about six months."
(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ken Ferris)
