Wilfried Zaha hits back at Jean-Philippe Mateta over national team comments | OneFootball

Wilfried Zaha (32) has taken to social media to hit back at Crystal Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta (28) for comments he made during an interview with L’Équipe. The 28-year-old referred to comments that were made during the Premier League side’s dressing room about his chances of representing the France national team. Mateta referenced Zaha when talking about the comments.

In the interview, the Frenchman said, “At Crystal Palace, right at the start, when I wasn’t even playing, I spoke about the France team in the dressing room and I had teammates like Wilfried Zaha who were laughing”. The former Lyon striker has since made those ambitions a reality after recently making his Les Bleus debut against Iceland in October.

Shocked by the statement made by the French forward, the Charlotte FC attacker spoke out about the comments on Snapchat. Zaha said, “Why does he mention my name when there were 10 people in the room? It’s simply because Zaha is the biggest name. I never once said, ‘you won’t make it'”.

Mateta’s comments taken out of context?

L’Équipe journalist Loic Tanzi, who did the interview with the French international, believes that the comments were taken out of context. He believes that the Crystal Palace attacker wasn’t referring to the comments in a mean manner, stating, “There is no controversy.”

GFFN | Liam Wraith