Brazil national team star detained in Sao Paulo

Brazil striker Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa has been detained by police for flouting coronavirus restrictions at an illegal casino in Sao Paulo.

The former Inter Milan star, 24, was found hiding under a table after the hall was raided in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to local police.

Gabigol – now of Brazilian giants Flamengo – was pictured being led away from the premises and placed into a vehicle. A staggering 200 people are claimed to have been inside the makeshift casino, with Sao Paulo currently in the ‘red phase’ state of alert due to a shocking rise in Covid-19 cases.

A police task-force had been tipped off to a party happening at the address – but instead stumbled upon the casino. Sao Paulo officials claimed they saw hoards of people ‘flagrantly consuming alcohol, violating social distancing rules and [not] wearing masks’.

Police chief Eduardo Brotero added he witnessed ‘a rather large underground casino’ where ‘many people crowded together, exposed to contagion’. And Sao Paulo’s vice-mayor, Ricardo Nunes, claimed: “We got a tip-off about a party.

“When we got here we found that in addition to an enormous number of people, more than 200 people in an unventilated room.