Argentina international Ezequiel Lavezzi is to take legal action after a journalist suggested he had been left out of the squad to face Colombia because he had been smoking cannabis.
Lavezzi, now plying his trade in the Chinese Super League for Hebei China Fortune, was called up by Edgardo Bauza for World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Colombia.
He played no part in Thursday's 3-0 defeat to Brazil and reporter Gabriel Anello claimed on Tuesday that Lavezzi would not be included among the substitutes for the Colombia clash later that day.
Anello had suggested on Twitter that the player had been involved in smoking marijuana, writing: "Lavezzi is left off the substitutes' bench tomorrow because of the joint that was smoked last night in the camp?