Lille denied Sylva service
Monday, December 4, 2006
Article summary
LOSC Lille Métropole goalkeeper Tony Sylva will miss Wednesday's decisive trip to AC Milan with a broken finger, handing a rare chance to Grégory Malicki.
Article body
Malicky chance
The Senegalese international was substituted with 16 minutes to go of his side's 3-1 win at AS Nancy-Lorraine last night and scans confirmed a fracture to his left ring finger. Sylva will definitely play no part in the trip to San Siro, and is unlikely to feature again this year. The 31-year-old Sylva, who has played every minute of Lille's group-stage campaign, will be replaced by Malicki, who came on for him against Nancy yesterday.
'A blow'
Lille captain Grégory Tafforeau admits Sylva's absence could affect his side’s chances of securing the positive result they need against Milan to progress, but has every confidence in Malicki. "It's a blow to lose Tony, but Grégory will do a good job,” he said. Lille will go through to the last 16 if they get a better result against Group H winners Milan than AEK Athens FC manage at RSC Anderlecht, who have already been eliminated.
