One Direction for Louis – straight down
HE may be a star player in the world’s biggest boy band.
But when it comes to performing on the soccer stage, it is obviously still a man’s game as poor Louis Tomlinson found to his cost.
The 21-year-old singer was left heading in just One Direction yesterday – the touchline – after colliding with Premiership star Gabriel Agbonlahor during a charity football match.
The pop idol ended up in an undignified heap on the pitch, clutching his knee, after the Aston Villa striker clearly forgot the game at Celtic’s Parkhead was, in fact, a friendly.
The special challenge match was organised to raise money for a foundation set up by former Celtic player Stiliyan Petrov, who retired from the game after a year-long battle with leukaemia while he was at Barclays Premier League side Aston Villa.
Having been rather gingerly helped off the pitch in the 54th minute, Tomlinson did display some unfortunate dribbling skills, when he was physically sick as flashbacks of the challenge replayed in his head.
As the screams of his army of fans in the 60,000-strong crowd turned to gasps, many feared the worst for the singer who is on the books of Doncaster Rovers.
The entertainer joined the First Division club during the transfer window after visiting all 2 English Football League clubs in a day. The One Direction man is scheduled to feature in a reserves match for Rovers this month having been a lifelong fan.
Ironically, Agbonlahor was cheered for the tackle – mainly from the male sections of the crowd – although with the game still going on, he was receiving a torrent of abuse on social media site Twitter.
Afterwards the 26-year-old England striker played down the clash. He said: ‘I’ll apologise to Louis when we meet up after the game.’