'He didn't mention he had a girlfriend': Girl invited back to England hotel by players says 'I feel bad for their families'
Lara Clausen, one of the girls invited back to the England team hotel by Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden after a Nations League game versus Iceland, has expressed her regret over the incident regarding the players’ families.
Icelander Clausen has been at the center of the scandal after debutant duo Foden, 20, and Greenwood, 18, breached Covid-19 protocol to invite her and friend Nadia Gunnarsdottir back to the Three Lions hotel in the capital Reykjavik.
The Premier League pair have already apologized for their part in the scandal, and were sent home from the England camp by manager Gareth Southgate, who later admitted “trust needs to be rebuilt” by the players.
Also on rt.com After orgies & prostitutes, the angry overreaction to England players sneaking girls back to hotel is merely more Covid hysteriaExplaining her earlier stories, recorded in Icelandic, Clausen told her ever-growing Instagram following that she wasn’t aware Man City starlet Foden had a child with longtime girlfriend Rebecca Cooke, but felt bad for the players’ families.
“It was me that took the photos. I took all the photos and the videos that night. Obviously I feel very bad about the situation. I didn’t realise how much attention this would cost and how big this would get, so yeah,” Clausen said.
“Obviously I posted the videos, the photos too but I deleted them like a few hours later too but it just got out of hand and I never [expected this]. Obviously I feel very bad for the boys and their families and everyone near them so yeah.
“About yesterday, I didn’t know that Phil had a girlfriend or a kid. He didn’t mention it and I didn’t like Google him before I went to the hotel, so obviously I feel very bad for his family.”
Apologising for her grasp of the English language, Clausen went on to explain a third girl who had allegedly been speaking to Fodenon Snapchat was neither her nor Gunnarsdottir, and denied sharing any photos and videos she took in the company of the players with the press.
“The last thing I‘m gonna mention is the girl talking to Phil on Snapchat and talking to him on Facetime - it’s not me and it’s not Nadia, you’re mixing up two stories. One yeh, we did go meet them but the Snapchat or the FaceTime or whatever this was, this was not us," she said.
“And the second thing is I didn’t leak anything to the media. This just got screenshotted and yeah did get out of hand, handed to the media. I didn’t leak anything."
The players have meanwhile apologised for their actions, and Greenwood has spoken of his "embarrassment" over the incident; both will be subject to a Football Association investigation into the breach.
