Luckless footballer Nicklas Bendtner has once again found his way into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Last week he was the victim of an attempted blackmail after his girlfriend, the actress Julie Zangenberg, had her laptop stolen from her car. Apparently its hard-drive included hundreds of sultry pictures of the pair in the midst of bedroom training exercises.
Two men have been charged with contacting the celebrity couple and demanding 25,000 kroner, or else they would release the steamy pictures to the public.
But Bendtner arranged for a meeting with the blackmailers and then alerted the police to the dilemma who promptly made two arrests on Thursday. The two accused men deny their guilt, saying that they were only looking for a finder’s fee.
And the lanky Dane’s bad week was compounded today after the bigwigs of UEFA denied Denmark’s appeal against a one-match ban that was handed down following Bendtner’s infamous betting company underwear stunt during Denmark’s 2-3 loss to Portugal in Euro 2012.
The national team coach, Morten Olsen, stated that while he disagreed with the decision, his team is more than ready for the Czech challenge on September 8. But Olsen had no idea why Bendtner missed the ‘debriefing’ with UEFA as which the decision was made.
“I don’t know the reason why he didn’t go down and defend himself to UEFA,” Olsen told Ekstra Bladet newspaper. “But considering his unresolved club situation, there can be a number of reason – none of which I want to dwell on. The case is closed, so let’s move forward.”
Denmark’s 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign will not only begin without their top striker, but also young defender Andreas Bjelland, who will miss out after suffering an ankle injury playing for his Dutch club FC Twente over the weekend.
But there is good news for the Danes as Tomas Rosicky, Daniel Kolar and Vaclav Pilar are all missing for Czechs due to injury, while striker Milan Baros finally hung up his boots after the Euros this summer.
While the underpants saga may have come to an ‘end’, Bendtner’s transfer drama is reaching fever pitch. With only a few days left before the transfer deadline slams shut, rumours indicate that the controversial Dane may want to invest in an Italian dictionary in the near future.
AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma and Juventus have all been linked to Bendtner, and it could very spell the end to his long stay in England.
And to Bendtner, the Copenhagen Post would like to add: ‘Pantaloni’ means pants in Italian, Nicklas. You might play like it at times, but stop taking them off. Per favore.
