At around 10.30pm on Wednesday evening, a man out walking his dog in a quiet neighbourhood in the hills of Torino noticed a number of cars parked outside Weston McKennie's villa.
There was also a group of people – none of whom were wearing masks – assembled at the gates of the Juventus midfielder's home.
"Then, several taxis containing young women arrived," McKennie's neighbour told the Corriere della Sera.
"Given that dinners among friends are not allowed (under Covid-19 restrictions) and the curfew had started a while before, I decided to alert the authorities."
The police quickly arrived and, after being made to wait before being allowed entry, they eventually fined all of those in attendance.
And McKennie, the host, wasn't the only member of the Juve squad present either. Paulo Dybala and Arthur were also there.
"I'm a Juve fan," the neighbour revealed. "For this season, I'm sorry for the team.
"But maybe if the players focused more on the pitch instead of going to parties, they might be in a better position in the table."
Insult added to injury.
And make no mistake about it: this embarrassing episode has done serious damage, to the players involved, to the club and the coach.
Dybala, to his credit, was quick to offer an apology.
"I know that in such a difficult moment for the world with Covid, it would’ve been better not to make a mistake," the forward wrote on Instagram. "But I was wrong to go out to dinner.
"It wasn’t a party, but I was wrong anyway and I apologise."
His remorse, though, did nothing to quell the fury of the millions of people in Italy currently enduring another difficult lockdown re-introduced in a desperate attempt to control a virus that is still claiming the lives of hundreds of people every day.
Even Dybala's biggest supporters, who recently restarted their campaign to convince the club to resist the temptation to sell the Argentine this summer, found his behaviour, and that of McKennie and Arthur, utterly indefensible.
Juve's directors were also outraged, and rightly so. In a week in which Leonardo Bonucci and Merih Demiral both contracted the virus, the last thing they needed was a shameful regulation breach involving three of their team-mates.
Their behaviour also put Andrea Pirlo in a terrible position.
Given both he and his employers were already having to fend off allegations of a lack of discipline at Juve this season (Ronaldo, for example, went unsanctioned for allegedly breaking travel guidelines earlier this season), they were left with no option but to suspend all three players for Saturday's derby with Torino.
"These things have always happened," Pirlo told reporters in his pre-game press conference. "But this is not the right moment at all, given what's happening in the world."
It certainly wasn't the right moment for him, either.
Pirlo was hoping to welcome Dybala back into the fold for a must-win game, with the forward having been out of action for nearly three months with a knee problem, while McKennie was set to start, given Arthur was an injury doubt anyway.
Of course, Juve will still be able to field a team that should have far too much talent for a Torino side just one point and one place above the Serie A drop zone.
But then, nothing can be taken for granted right now, not with the Bianconeri having been beaten at home by Benevento in their last outing two weeks ago.
That shock setback prompted an immediate inquiry in the press. On top of numerous opinion pieces, the Gazzetta dello Sport ran one article in which it asked 16 separate public figures with ties to Juve (celebrity fans or former players) who was responsible for a campaign that is in danger of going off the rails.
And that's one thing about Italy everyone should know: there's always someone to blame. Even in the event of an accident, someone must always be held accountable. But while Pirlo is at the wheel, it does not look like he'll be made a scapegoat for Juve's failings this season – not yet at least.
There are certainly those who believe the rookie coach is out of his depth, but former Italy international Marco Borriello arguably spoke for the majority of interested observers when he argued that the only mistake Pirlo has made thus far was taking the top job at Juve rather than the Under-23s role he had originally been assigned.
"But it's true that when the Old Lady calls," Borriello acknowledged, "it's difficult to say no." And that is precisely why many believe that it is the club that is culpable for the current crisis – not the coach.
As the legendary ex-AC Milan boss Arrigo Sacchi recently argued, if Pirlo was responsible for all of Juve's signings last summer, he deserves to be under pressure. But that is highly unlikely to have been the case, given Fabio Paratici is the man who calls the shots in the transfer market.
Pirlo hasn't helped himself at times, of course.
He's been undeniably hindered by the chaos caused by the pandemic, in terms of injuries and illness, but he's been guilty of playing players out of position, chief among them Dejan Kulusevski, whose confidence appears shot after trying – and failing – to carry out various different roles on an almost weekly basis.
It certainly feels significant that in 40 games this season, Pirlo has employed six different formations, and never picked the same starting XI once.
But then, the confusion we have seen on the pitch is arguably only mirroring the muddled approach we are witnessing at boardroom level.
Juve, remember, parted company with Massimiliano Allegri after five successive Scudetti, and two Champions League final appearances, because they wanted to implement a more aesthetically pleasing footballing philosophy.
So, they turned to Maurizio Sarri, the mastermind behind two of the most attractive Serie A sides of the previous decade: Empoli and Napoli. Yet they sacked Sarri after a season in charge – even though he had led them to another title.
Sporting director Paratici had even stated on July 20 of last year that "without a doubt, Sarri will be Juventus coach next season", but, just under three weeks later, the Tuscan was fired, less than 24 hours after Juve's Champions League last-16 elimination by Lyon.
In that context, it's easy to understand why nobody has paid much attention to Paratici's public support for the Pirlo project.
Sarri, after all, wasn't sacked simply because Juve went out in the last 16 of the Champions League – he was sacked because of the obvious tactical issues and personality clashes which culminated in that defeat.
Pirlo, then, could well survive even worse results – and his results are significantly worse than those of the unfairly maligned Sarri – but only if there is a noticeable improvement in performance and atmosphere between now and the end of the season.
The former midfielder was always going to be given more time than his predecessor because of his standing and popularity at the club, but the Benevento result was troubling, not just because Juve were beaten – but because they deserved to be beaten.
As the Gazzetta pointed out, it was a performance devoid of "character and ideas". At a time when the players should be getting to grips with Pirlo's approach, they look lost, meaning that Juve's results are getting worse, rather than better, the longer the season goes on, with the Benevento debacle having come just 12 days after the Champions League last-16 exit against Porto.
A response is, therefore, imperative in the derby, with Tuttosport underlining the significance of the game by arguing that both Pirlo and the relegation-threatened Torino need to win in order to "save themselves".
Juve's preparations couldn't have gone much worse, though.
Dybala, after all, was meant to help resolve Pirlo's problems. Instead, he, McKennie and Arthur have only made them worse.