Antwerp slam Ultras after ground invasion

ROYAL ANTWERP have slammed the Ultras who stormed their training ground to confront controversial striker Didier Lamkel Ze.

The Cameroon internationalist infuriated the supporters of Rangers’ upcoming Europa League opponents by wearing an Anderlecht jersey to training in a bid to force through a move to Panathinaikos.

Ze has made an unreserved apology and has since rejoined the Antwerp squad.

However, that further enraged the club’s most hardcore fans, who informed the player to his face that he should never pull on The Great Old colours ever again.

A statement from the Antwerp board read: “As a club, we understand the emotions of the supporters. We share those emotions as a club. What we cannot understand, however, is that training sessions are disrupted.

“This disrupts the preparation for matches and goes against the interest of the club.

“Forty masked supporters came to disrupt training – in a field where our under-9s also train. That is impossible to understand.

“This is detrimental to the image and operation of our club and also affects individual players and employees who have absolutely nothing to do with the behaviour of a single player. Nobody wins here.

“The club has proven several times that an open dialogue with the various supporter groups leads to constructive solutions. The club asks the confidence to work out a solution in this situation.”

New Antwerp manager Franky Vercauteren has risked the wrath of fans by confirming this week that he consider Ze a part of his firstteam squad and could hand him a reprieve.

The statement continued: “The player has apologised to the group and is no longer allowed to be active on social media.

“In addition, the player is intensively supervised by an employee of the club.”