German league slams ex-Chelsea forward Kalou for flouting distancing rules

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The German Football League (DFL) has condemned the conduct of Salomon Kalou after the player filmed himself breaking a number of social distancing rules at Hertha Berlin's training ground.

The video is still available on YouTube after being deleted from Facebook. The footage depicts the former Chelsea attacker gatecrashing a medical check for defender Jordan Torunarigha and partaking in a conversation with striker Vedad Ibisevic, who complains about his pay cut during the pandemic, according to Goal's Emma Smith.

"The images of Salomon Kalou in the Hertha Berlin dressing room are absolutely unacceptable," the DFL tweeted Monday, as translated by the Daily Mail's Kit Holden. "There can be no tolerance of this - especially given the players and clubs who are keeping to the measures because they recognize the seriousness of the situation."

Hertha Berlin are yet to comment on the incident.

The 34-year-old's behavior has come under scrutiny after the DFL conducted 1,724 coronavirus tests across the 36 teams in the Bundesliga and second division. Ten tests came back positive, with infected individuals immediately quarantined by their respective clubs. The DFL is adhering to Germany's lockdown protocols while overseeing several stages of testing in an effort to resume the 2019-20 season in May.

Kalou expressed his reservations last week about returning to the pitch while physical contact is either outlawed or discouraged.

"I'm not afraid, but I think it will be a little bit awkward that we're going to play and not have contact with other teams, because you've got to," the Ivorian told BBC Sport Africa.

He added: "Football is a sport of contact. You've got to have contact. So I'm very curious to see what the rules will be when it comes to playing the game again."