FRANCE | VALBUENA
Valbuena involved in physical altercation in French airport
According to France Football, a Toulouse local has filed a police report denouncing the Lyon midfielder for destroying his mobile phone and trying to assault him.
The Ring Like lint to Velcro, problems seem to have a habit of sticking to Mathieu Valbuena. Following the French Football Federation's decision to exclude Karim Benzema from the national team squad ahead of Euro 2016, the Lyon midfielder has been targeted for abuse by large swaths of fans, who have regularly (and vocally) been accusing the 31-year-old for the Real Madrid hitman's omission.
Perhaps the stress the much-publicised 'blackmail' case is what caused Valbuena to snap last week at Toulouse airport. According to France Football, the Lyon player was involved in a physical altercation with a fan on Friday after the Ligue 1 side landed in the Southern French city. The incident, which has since been reported to French authorities, allegedly involved the player snatching a phone out of the fan's hand and hurling it to the ground, as well as insulting and trying to hit him.
The man, named only as Youssef, contends that airport security and various Lyon squad members stepped in and tried to calm down the highly-agitated Valbuena.