Gaddafi finally makes prime time debut

AL Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, made his debut in the Italian league on Sunday, coming on as a substitute fo...

AL Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, made his debut in the Italian league on Sunday, coming on as a substitute for Perugia in their 1-0 Serie A win over Juventus. Gaddafi, 30, joined Perugia in the close season but had to wait until three games from the end of the season to finally take to the field after fitness problems and a ban after testing positive in a drugs test.

The Libyan tested positive for norandrosterone — a metabolite of nandrolone —in October and was handed a three-month ban by Italian soccer authorities. Gaddafi’s appearance was a surprise given that Perugia desperately needed to win Sunday’s game against Juve to keep alive their hopes of avoiding relegation.

Perugia coach Serse Cosmi defended his decision saying Gaddafi deserved to finally get a chance. ‘‘Gaddafi came on because he is a player and not because anyone of us wanted to go into history as the one who first played the son of a head of state in the Italian championship,’’ Cosmi told the Italian news agency ANSA.

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Gaddafi was previously a member of the board at Juventus and has been open about his support for the Turin club, even arranging for their Italian Super Cup match with Parma to be played in Libyan capital Tripoli last season.

‘‘I spoke with Saadi during the week,’’ said Cosmi, ‘‘and he let me know that his dream was to play against Juventus. I didn’t make any promise but having seen how the game was going I decided to give him an appearance.’’

Prior to Sunday’s game Gaddafi had made two appearances on the bench without entering play.

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