Daniel Maldini Tested Almost Double Italy's Legal Alcohol Limit After a Car Crash, but Cagliari Say Their Own Tests Are Clean

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Daniel Maldini has had his driving licence suspended after Milan police say he failed a breathalyser test following a car crash in the early hours of Sunday.
Police recorded two readings of 0.91 and 0.89 grams per litre, both above Italy’s legal limit of 0.5 g/l, while Cagliari say their own toxicological screening of the player came back negative.
Maldini is the third generation of his family to play for Italy, after grandfather Cesare and father Paolo, both AC Milan and Italy legends.

Three Generations of Maldinis Have Played for Italy, and Now the Third One Faces Two Conflicting Test Results

Daniel Maldini scored a penalty to beat his parent club Atalanta on Saturday, his first from the spot in Serie A and the goal that gave Cagliari their best-ever start to a season in the three-points-for-a-win era. Hours later, his Porsche Carrera 4 was involved in a crash in Milan that left six people with minor injuries, and police say a breathalyser test put him well above Italy’s legal alcohol limit.

Milan city police confirmed to BBC Sport that Maldini, 24, was administered a breathalyser test at the scene in the early hours of Sunday, after his car collided with another vehicle. His driving licence was confiscated following what police described as a positive result. He was taken to hospital for precautionary checks and released shortly after.

The penalty itself had been a rare moment in a career that has often played out in the shadow of a famous surname. Maldini won it after a handball by Atalanta’s Kolasinac, then converted it to complete a 2-1 win in Bergamo that gave Cagliari three wins from their opening four matchdays, a record start for the club under the current points system.

Two Numbers That Do Not Match

According to reports, an initial breath test at the scene recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.91 grams per litre. A second reading, taken shortly afterwards, registered 0.89 g/l. Both figures sit well above Italy’s legal driving limit of 0.5 g/l, close to double the threshold.

Cagliari’s own account does not line up with those numbers. In a statement, the club said Maldini had “undergone toxicological screening following recent media reports” and that “all tests returned negative results.” Cagliari added that Maldini would join the squad for training on Monday to prepare for the team’s forthcoming fixtures, treating the matter as settled on their end even as the suspended licence remains in place.

Neither the police nor the club has explained how a roadside breathalyser reading twice over the limit and a clear toxicological screening can both be accurate. That gap between the two accounts, rather than the crash itself, is what has kept the story alive in Italy.

A Family Name That Made This Bigger News

Maldini’s surname is one of the most recognised in Italian football. His grandfather, Cesare Maldini, captained AC Milan to their first ever European Cup in 1963 and later managed the Italy national team. His father, Paolo Maldini, spent all 25 years of his playing career at Milan, making 902 appearances, winning seven Serie A titles and five Champions League crowns, and earning 126 caps for Italy.

Paolo Maldini became Milan captain in 1997 and lifted the Champions League trophy himself in 2003, exactly 40 years after his own father had done the same as Milan’s captain in that first European Cup win. Daniel’s route through the game has looked nothing like that symmetry so far. He came through the Milan academy but never established himself in the first team there, and has instead built his career through loans and moves across Serie A.

He was sold to Monza in January 2024, then signed by Atalanta for a reported 14 million euros in January 2025. This season he has been out on loan at Cagliari, in a deal that runs to the end of June 2027 and includes conditions that would turn the loan into a permanent transfer worth a further 9 million euros if Cagliari stay in Serie A and Maldini reaches 10 goals for the club.

He became the third generation of his family to play for the Italy national team when he made his debut against Israel in a Nations League fixture in 2024. He has been capped six times by his country, most recently in September 2025.

What Happens to the Suspension Now

A suspended licence in Italy following a breathalyser reading over the legal limit typically triggers a formal administrative process, with the driver able to contest the result and request an independent retest of any blood or breath sample kept by police. Maldini has not commented publicly himself, and Cagliari’s statement stopped short of disputing the police’s account directly, focusing instead on the club’s own screening rather than challenging the roadside reading.

For now, the practical outcome is that Maldini keeps playing. Cagliari have made clear he will train and be considered for selection as normal, and there has been no suggestion from the Italian football federation of any football-specific sanction. A driving offence does not automatically carry a footballing punishment on its own. The disagreement over the test results, not the crash itself, is what Italian police and Cagliari will need to resolve.

What happens next will likely come down to whichever body, the police or an independent lab, gets the final word on the sample. Neither Cagliari nor the Italian federation has said whether the incident carries any consequence for Maldini’s international standing, and there is no indication at this stage that it will factor into his next Italy call-up.

A surname like Maldini’s brings scrutiny that a less famous player would not face for the same crash. It also means that whatever gets resolved between the police and Cagliari’s lab results will be read as part of a much longer story than a single Sunday morning in Milan. Until then, a player carrying one of football’s most recognisable names is left with a suspended licence, a club insisting he is clear, and a set of numbers that both cannot be right.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.