Vidal denies involvement in incident at Chilean casino: 'I left early'

One of the faces of Chile's golden generation is once again making headlines for reasons unrelated to football.

On Tuesday, Arturo Vidal was on the verge of tears as he admitted he was at a casino. But the Chilean midfielder denied participating in an incident that resulted in the police being called to Sun Monticello on Tuesday morning.

Chile will play Paraguay in a 2018 World Cup qualifier at Estadio Monumental on Thursday, knowing the only way La Roja can remain in the top four of CONMEBOL's standings is by tallying three points.

"Yes, I was at the casino with my friends, I stayed for dinner, but I left early to go home," Vidal said, per Emol.com. The product of CSD Colo Colo then declared: "It's sad. It brought me problems. It bothers me that they put me in something so complicated. I was at the casino with my friends and I went home, like the professional that I am. I can't control what my friends do."

Vidal revealed that he spoke to Juan Antonio Pizzi, Chile's manager, about the incident, stating: "Pizzi asked me, but he knows what I do. I had no problem telling him what had happened and that now we'll focus only on talking about the game and getting ahead."

Asked if the incident affected him, Vidal replied that "it's super uncomfortable. It gives me a lot of anger because I have a family. I'm so strong in my mind that I concentrate on what's coming. It already happened." Regarding how he heard about the event, he responded: "I found my way to Pinto Duran. My wife called me to find out what happened, but she trusts me."

Vidal, driving under the influence of alcohol, crashed his car in the outskirts of Santiago during the 2015 Copa America. He suffered minor injuries.