FOOTBALL stars Jack Grealish and Ross Barkley broke strict coronavirus rules yesterday with a day of partying.
Video footage shows the England and Aston Villa team-mates at a restaurant in London’s Mayfair.
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The pair are seen in the crowded restaurant with other partygoers in breach of the Tier 2 rule which states “you must not socialise with anyone you do not live with or who is not in your support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place”.
Grealish, 25, joined Barkley to celebrate his 27th birthday.
Witnesses saw their group downing champagne, vodka and beer at Bagatelle restaurant from around 3pm.
They were said to still be drinking into the evening.
A fellow diner said: “You wouldn’t have thought there was a global health pandemic going on. They were arrogantly partying without a care.
“Staff wore masks but Grealish and Barkley didn’t.”
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One clip shows Barkley seemingly having a row with another man. Others show him high-fiving and hugging other revellers, while Grealish is seen dancing and then sat talking to two women at a table.
The pair’s home Premier League match against Newcastle on Friday was called off because of a Covid outbreak in the visitors’ camp.
Grealish has breached Covid rules before. Last month he admitted careless driving in the first lockdown when he defied a ban on non-essential travel.
At the time in March, he said: “I am old enough now and mature enough to know I’d done wrong.”
A representative of Ross Barkley said the player had wholeheartedly apologised for his behaviour and deeply regretted it and would make a full statement in due course.
An Aston Villa spokesperson said: “Having reviewed footage forwarded to us on Saturday, it appears as though two of our players who live in Tier 2 areas of the country were eating in a restaurant in a tier 2 location on Saturday afternoon during a weekend off. They left the restaurant at 7.45pm.”
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