The chief doctor of the Brazilian national team has lashed out at AC Milan, for what he says was the shoddy medical treatment Alexandre Pato received from the Serie A club.
Pato recently left the Rossoneri to play for Brazilian club Corinthians, after an injury ravaged stint at the San Siro.
The 23-year-old striker had arrived in Italy as a teenager with a massive reputation, and did sparkle in fits and starts for Milan.
But the last two seasons in which he played just 15 league matches for the Italian giants were emblematic of his stay there.
Pato seemed to spend his life on the treatment table, and Brazilian doctor Jose Luis Runco says it was Milan’s ‘mistreatment’ of Pato which caused him to miss so much football.
"In my view, in the past Pato has been rushed back onto the field too quickly, or Milan got the treatment for his muscles wrong while he was out of action," Runco said.
"I have seen other cases like Pato's. With the right course of action and if the player collaborates with medics, I usually don't see any big problems."
Milan are used to falling foul of Brazil’s football doctors, however.
In the past, the Selecao have also moaned at Milan for the treatment given to their former stars Kaka and Ronaldo when they were players at the San Siro.