Meet The Players

Lomana Tresor LuaLua (born December 28, 1980 in Kinshasa) is a professional footballer who currently plays for Greek side Olympiacos and for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

LuaLua started his career with Colchester United in 1998, where he played until 2000, when he joined Newcastle United. He played with the club until 2004 when he joined Portsmouth, with whom he had a loan spell earlier that year. He joined Greek side Olympiacos in 2007. He is also a DR Congo international and has gained a total of 30 international caps, scoring 13 goals.

[edit] Background

LuaLua was born in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), in 1980, but moved to the United Kingdom as a young boy in 1989.[1] He started to play football at the age of 16 and was playing for Leyton Sixth Form College in London when he was spotted at the age of 17 by Third Division side, Colchester United.[2] LuaLua is known for a spectacular goal celebration, which consists of several back-flips and a backward somersault.[3] His brother, Kazenga LuaLua, is also a professional footballer and currently plays for his brother's former club, Newcastle United.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Colchester United

LuaLua joined Colchester United in September 1998.[4] In two seasons, he made 68 league and cup appearances for Colchester, 44 starts and 24 substitute appearances, scoring a total of 21 goals.[4] His performances attracted the attention of several Premiership clubs and despite manager Steve Whitton denial that LuaLua was for sale, LuaLua joined Newcastle United in September 2000 for a fee of £2.25 million.[5][6] An earlier offer by Newcastle of £300,000 for LuaLua made by former manager, Ruud Gullit, had been rejected but the much increased bid offered financial security and assistance towards a new ground and was one that Colchester felt they could not turn down.[7][6]

[edit] Newcastle United

LuaLua had been brought to the attention of Newcastle manager, Bobby Robson, by Mick Wadsworth, head coach at Newcastle United, who was a former manager of Colchester.[6] Robson watched LuaLua before deciding to negotiate the transfer, and said, "I see [LuaLua] as a special talent. He has to learn how to play with the other players but he's a special new talent. He has to be nursed and cherished and taught. But we are buying long-term a very promising talent, a very promising player."[6] LuaLua signed a five-year contract with the club.[6] LuaLua made his first-team debut in a 1–0 home defeat to Charlton in September 2000 and went on to make a total of 23 league and cup appearances for Newcastle in the 2000–01 season without scoring.[4] He scored twice in Newcastle's Intertoto Cup campaign at the beginning of the 2001–02 season but his first Premiership goal did not come until April 2002, when he scored a last-minute winner in a 3–2 away win against Derby.[8] He scored a further two goals in the remaining four games of the season.[4] LuaLua's goalscoring form continued to the beginning of the 2002–03 season when he scored three goals in his first four games.[4] Competition for a first-team place meant that LuaLua made only 22 appearances in this season.[4] In January 2003, LuaLua urged manager Bobby Robson to select some of the younger players for the first-team, saying, "I think I deserve a chance now, as do many of the lads on the fringes of the team. Although some people might have the idea that those of us not in the team like sitting on the bench and getting paid good money, nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not in this for the money, I want to play for the first team and show what I can do on a regular basis."[9] LuaLua also spent much of the beginning of the 2003–04 season on the bench and in November 2003, complained about his lack of first-team football and indicated that he would consider leaving Newcastle.[10] Bobby Robson responded, saying would not take advice from a player about how to manage the side.[11] In February 2004, after returning from the 2004 African Cup of Nations, he joined Portsmouth on a three-month loan deal with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season.[12] LuaLua had made 88 league and cup appearances for Newcastle, scoring nine goals, having started 21 games and made 67 appearances as substitute.[4]

[edit] Portsmouth

LuaLua scored on his debut for Portsmouth in a 4–3 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in February 2003.[13] In his third game for Portsmouth later that month, he scored an 89th minute equaliser at Fratton Park against parent club Newcastle, which lifted Portsmouth out of the bottom three of the Premiership.[14] He scored four goals in 15 appearances for Portsmouth as they finished in mid-table in their debut season in the Premiership and manager Harry Redknapp was sufficiently impressed with LuaLua's performances that when his loan spell ended at the end of the 2003/04 season, he signed LuaLua permanently at a cost of £1.75 million.[15]

LuaLua made 26 league and cup appearances, scoring six goals, including two against local rivals Southampton, in the 2004–05 season, which was marred by a groin injury at the beginning of the season[16][17] and a hamstring injury in May 2005,[18] and disciplinary problems that led to charges by the Football Association of abusive behaviour in December 2004[19] and improper conduct after he was sent off against Blackburn Rovers in January 2005, for which he received an extra one-match ban and a fine of £5,000 in addition to a three-match ban for the dismissal.[20] He made 26 appearances in the 2005–06 season, scoring seven goals, but missed several games in the autumn after contracting malaria on a visit to Africa to play for DR Congo.[21][22] He also missed several games due to international duty at the 2004 African Cup of Nations[23] and missed games in April 2006 after damaging his foot while doing his trademark goal celebration of several back-flips during a game against Arsenal.[24] [25] He ran into disciplinary problems once more when he was warned by the Football Association over his future conduct after he admitted a charge of improper conduct in relation to comments made about referee Uriah Rennie after a 3–1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in December.[26] Lualua signed a new three-year contract in July 2006, tying him to Portsmouth until 2009.[27] An ankle injury suffered in a pre-season friendly led to LuaLua missing the beginning of the 2006–07 season.[28][29] He struggled to break back into the first-team, making only eight starts out of 24 appearances, and scored only two goals in that season.[30] Manager Harry Redknapp warned him that he needed to "...start performing." and that he had to "...start producing next season.".[30] However, he joined Greek club Olympiacos in August 2007 and Redknapp admitted that, "Lua wants to move on... I've no doubt he'll go away and be a great player for Olympiakos. He wants a change, he wants to play in a role behind the strikers and he wants to move abroad. He will get to play in the Champions League by moving to Greece. He has been a top Premier League player and he'll be a top player for them."[30]

[edit] Olympiakos

LuaLua joined Olympiakos for a fee of about £2.8 million (€4.1 million) in August 2007, signing a three-year contract.[31] He made his 2007–08 Super League debut in a 0–0 draw with Panathinaikos in September 2007.[32] His first goals for his new club came in the following Super League fixture, scoring twice in Olympiacos' 6-2 victory against OFI Crete. Lualua quickly became a fan favorite amongst the Olympiakos supporters by displaying his excellent skill in scoring, dribbling, and whole hearted celebrations. His status amongst the fans grew even greater when Lomana opened the scoring against arch-rivals Panathinaikos, and contributed to the demolition of Panathinaikos by a staggering 4-0 victory. The energy, passion, and determination he displayed in that game will be remembered by many generations of Olympiakos fans and earned him the title of "leopard"[citation needed] as well as a place in team history.

[edit] International career

Following LuaLua's move to Newcastle United in 2000, he was named by the Democratic Republic of Congo in the preliminary squad for the African Nations Cup finals to take place in Mali in January 2002.[1][33] He played in the 0–0 draw with Togo,[34] 1–0 loss to Cameroon,[35] 3–1 win over Ivory Coast[36] and the quarter-final game against Senegal, which DR Congo lost 2–0 amid some controversy.[37][38]

DR Congo's qualifying campaign for the Tunisia 2004 African Nations Cup began just six months after the 2002 tournament ended, with a match against Libya. LuaLua was unable to play in this game due to flight problems on attempting to leave England,[39] but did played in a 2–0 win over Botswana in October 2002, when he scored inside five minutes but was later sent off for dissent.[40] He was suspended for two games and his next appearance was in the 0–0 draw with Botswana in July 200, which secured qualification for the 2004 Nations Cup.[41]

He was made captain for the 2004 African Cup of Nations. However in the match against the hosts Tunisia he was sent off. His country went on to lose and were eliminated. He and Nsumbu Mazuwa, from this game on have had an on going feud.

LuaLua's baby son Jesus died of pneumonia on 20 January 2006 while he was away on African Nations Cup duty.[42][43] In a widely criticized move, he was not told of his son's tragedy as his coach was afraid of him returning home early from the African Nations Cup.