Paolo Guerrero's date with justice has arrived, and despite he recently signed a contract with Brazilian side Internacional, the Peruvian footballer will have to serve a pending eight-month ban due to doping charges.
Guerrero was given a temporary pardon by a Swiss court of law, which suspended a 14-month ban slapped on the footballer for taking a contaminated tea during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. This pardon allowed Guerrero to play his first-ever World Cup.
Today, Brazilian TV company Globo revealed that Guerrero is required to serve eight months away from the pitch, which will prevent him from playing with his new club until 2019.
Guerrero had been unveiled as new Internacional de Porto Alegre's striker eight days ago.
A Paraguayan member of the Court of Arbitrage in Sports (CAS), the entity that requested Guerrero's ban, explained why the Swiss court decided to lift the temporary pardon which allowed Guerrero to play in Russia.
"One of the elements they saw as irreparable damage was the player's age, which could have forbidden him from playing another World Cup. The other element was the amount of time Peru took to return to a World Cup. They made an exception due to those elements. Now, CAS' ban is confirmed and he has to serve the remaining eight months," CAS member Gerardo Acosta stated.
The 34-year-old striker is Perú's all-time top scorer, sending the ball into the back of the net 35 times with La Blanquirroja. He's played eight seasons in the Brazilian top flight with Corinthians and Flamengo. Internacional was supposed to be his third club in Brazil, but the footballer may have to wait a bit before returning to the pitch.
