German captain Lahm calls line-up ‘mole’ utter disgrace

London: Germany captain Philipp Lahm has slammed the line-up mole, who has been leaking information regarding team selection in the media, present in their team, calling the culprit as a disgrace.

While boss Joachim Low congratulated his side for their performance against Greece, he summoned his players to reprove them for allowing his personnel changes to reach the German media. Earlier, Low told his squad of the three changes he had made for Greece on Friday afternoon at 1.30pm. Mario Gomez, Thomas Müller and Lucas Podolski were left out, and surprisingly within an hour, a German news agency was announcing the line-up and the surprise inclusions of Miloslav Klose, Andreas Schürrle and Marco Reus. There are suspicions one of the 23 players is in treatment is nursing a guilty conscience, and is behind the leak, although Lahm shifted the responsibility to the players’ advisors who may have been informed of the selection via their loose-tongued clients. “It is an issue, I must admit it and I think now everyone should be aware who he passes the line-up to,” The Telegraph quoted Lahm, as saying. “We must be extra careful now. Whether someone play or they do not play, it is out of the question to pass the line-up to advisors. Exchanges with closest family are understandable, but that is it,” he added. “It’s a pity if leaks occur. The whole nation is behind us so it’s a disgrace for the line-up to be in the public eye so early. The one with the problem is the guy who has done this because he is damaging the hopes of the entire nation. It’s a shame, but we won’t be hiring a detective,” he said. The squad has now been warned only their immediate family are to be divulged such information in future. ANI