Nicklas Bendtner Sentenced to 50 Days in Prison for Assault on Taxi Driver

Rosenborg forward Nicklas Bendtner has been sentenced to 50 days in jail after he was found to have assaulted a taxi driver.

News of the punishment for the former Arsenal player came from Danish newspaper B.T. (h/t the Guardian's Marcus Christenson):

According to Martin Domin of the Daily Mirror, the Denmark international has appealed the sentence.

Per Reuters, the driver needed surgery on a broken jaw following the incident.

The assault took place in the early hours of September 9 after Bendtner had been on a night out with his girlfriend. In a statement, the 30-year-old said he regretted his actions, per Domin:

"I was involved in an extremely unfortunate episode. I could not imagine it would develop as it did, and of course I'm extremely sad that the outcome became as unfortunate as it did. To Rosenborg fans and audiences, I regret that this has happened. I'm sorry with all my heart that we are standing here today.

"To my dear teammates, I regret that this will steal focus in an important time. I thank you for your understanding. I have never been a fighter but I protect those I love on and off the pitch."

MARTIN SYLVEST/Getty Images

Per Domin, the court was shown a video of the altercation inside the vehicle. 

The Dane was on Arsenal's books for nine years between 2005 and 2014, although he had spells on loan with Birmingham City, Sunderland and Juventus during that time.

Since then he's played at Wolfsburg, where he won the DFB-Pokal in 2015, and had a short stint with Nottingham Forest before joining Rosenborg last season. The forward has been performing well for the Norwegian outfit, netting 33 goals in 75 appearances in all competitions.