LAZIO PRESIDENT Claudio Lotito has backed youth-team player Joseph Minala after reports questioning the Cameroonian midfielder’s declared age of 17.
Lazio had threatened legal action against anyone disputing Minala’s age after African website senego.net reported that he had told them that he was 41 years old, something the player denied in a statement on the Serie A club’s website.
“Minala deserves respect as a human being, first and foremost. Everything that has been said about him is false,” Lotito told the Corriere dello Sport on Friday.
“We forget the efforts that those like him have had to make. He has come from a difficult situation and has done everything he could to be a success.
“They say he looks 40, but how can they say that? How many people have a baby face but are actually older than they seem?
“And tell me how a 40-year-old could play in a Primavera (youth team) game and last the distance? The system has been poisoned by those looking to exploit creatively written news.”
Lazio are ninth in Serie A on 32 points, four away from the Europa League places, and travel to rock-bottom Catania on Sunday. (Reporting by Terry Daley, editing by Ed Osmond)
Fair play to ya Chris,don’t be afraid to fail , hope Wales go all the way.
They need to scrap that poxy yellow card rule , to many players are missing huge games for silly yellow cards . That ref was trigger happy with his cards , poor Ramsey gonna miss this biggest game of gis life for an accidental handball ,bullshit
Considering the length of this tournament, should have been an amnesty by the semi’s….. Stupid rules….
Crazy that there’s no amnesty.
Yellow Cards in consecutive games should result in a one match ban….. Other than that they shouldn’t count. Very harsh. He was brilliant today…..
Agree Ryan,he should at least be able to appeal it.
Totally agree. No way should you miss a semi or final..carry it forward and maybe make it a 2 game ban for next qualifying tournament? ??-
Belgium : A country that bottles great beer and big tournaments. Fair play to Wales.
England to sign up Colman in £10 million deal.
Emotional Cookie-monster motivates an entire country. Sports people of all grades appreciate the hard work that goes into creating the winning team effort. That was a proud moment for our Celtic comrades!!
Bale vs Ronaldo Semi-final… can’t wait
Team player v me feiner
I really hope they go all the way
Portugal have really rode their luck in their last 2 games and have not been at all impressive…. Wales have every chance….. could they repeat Denmark and Greece as being underdog champions? Either way I fancy them against Portugal.
Amazing amazing achievement by Wales which kind of puts were we are as a football team into perspective. Look at how they beat Belgium- playing football & not in anyway hanging on. We on the other hand seem to have this slight sense of euphoria about the euros yet we literally can’t play football. Still long ball rubbish. The sense is that we are on the right track – we’re not. And the media is still on about how great our fans are. Some joke.
Fair play to Wales. We have vastly improved since the last tournament. no disrespect to Brady but she’s a not Bail.
damn autocorrect. Brady is not Bail
Well england were you watching…??.I rest my case!!
What case is that?