Aston Villa defender Victor Nilsson Lindelöf has half apologised for criticising Sweden fans for their treatment of the team in the defeat to Kosovo.
Fotboll Skanalen cover comments from the Aston Villa defender today in which he tries to get himself out of a sticky situation of his own making.
Lindelöf has found himself on the wrong side of the Swedish fanbase of late thanks to the incident after the game against Kosovo. He gave an ‘ironic’ thumbs up to the fans who booed the after that game.
He followed that up in interviews after the game. As a team captain, he expressed he wasn’t particularly happy about the booing. Lindelöf then pointed out that he himself had not acted that way as a supporter.
His attitude to the incident didn’t go down well, particularly on social media. Now, a month later, the Aston Villa defender has been questioned on the matter.
And he’s willing to admit that he got it wrong. But he isn’t going to apologise for what he did, or said, completely.
“I had a lot of emotions in my body, I was irritated and angry about many different things,” he said.
“I said what I said in the moment and it was perhaps not my absolute best statement. If they (the supporters) got angry, I apologise for that. But football is about emotions, and I said what I said.”
Aston Villa player tries to take positive
Lindelöf was then asked a follow-up question about the supporters’ right to express their disappointment. That includes booing. He defended their right to do so, despite his reaction against Kosovo.
“Everyone has the right to express themselves exactly as they want,” he added.
“If they want to do that, they can do that. It was their way of showing that they were disappointed (against Kosovo). They want us to perform and win.
“We all – players and fans – have high demands and that’s how it should be in the national team. They also want to go to the World Cup and experience Sweden in a major championship again. It just means that they are invested in us and it’s positive, that they care about us.”
