Celta Vigo’s Fedor Smolov, 30, defies coronavirus lockdown to jet to Russia for fiancee’s 18th birthday party
CELTA VIGO'S Fedor Smolov has become the second player from the La Liga club to disobey coronavirus travel restriction warnings.
The club have instructed players not to go abroad following the outbreak of the deadly bug which has claimed over 12,000 lives in Spain.
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Smolov's forbidden trip comes a week after his teammate Pione Sisto was slammed for driving home to Denmark despite the Spanish government's travel ban.
Reports claim Smolov, 30, flew back to Russia by private jet to attend the 18th birthday party of Maria Yumasheva.
Yumasheva, who is Smolov's fiancee, is the granddaughter of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin.
The Russian forward is expected to be punished with a fine when he returns from seeing his wife-to-be.
According to Spanish outlet AS a Celta Vigo source said: “The player repeatedly requested permission to travel to Russia for a personal matter.
"The club could not give it to him because La Liga did not authorise it, but he promptly reported his movements and left with the commitment to return once he solved his personal affairs.”
Smolov, who proposed to Yumasheva in January, suggested it's unlikely he would be permitted to return to Russia while the coronavirus crisis is ongoing.
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The striker said: “Nothing new can happen. I don’t think about anything and I accept the situation.”
Spain has been in lockdown for almost four weeks following the spread of the virus in the country.
The total number of infections there are reported to have risen from 124,736 to 130,759.