Express & Star

Former Aston Villa winger Nolberto Solano: I didn’t break virus curfew

Former Villa winger Nolberto Solano has denied reports he broke a coronavirus curfew to attend a party in his native Peru.

Published

TV cameras captured Solano being led away by police following the incident in the La Molina district of Lima.

Reports claimed officers had to scale the walls of the property to get the attention of the ‘revellers’.

But Solano, who was taken to a police station and questioned before later being released, insists he was merely having a meal at a friend’s house.

He told the Newcastle Chronicle: “I was 200 yards from my house. I went with my wife for our lunch with the kids.

“There were five people and because somebody heard some music they rang the TV programme and they turned up.

“We had to go to the police station because everybody gets treated the same here.

“They asked what we were doing and I said it was not a party. It was a meeting of friends not a party.”

Solano, best known in England for his two spells at Newcastle, made 51 appearances for Villa during a two-and-a-half-year stay at the club between 2003 and 2005.

Like much of the world, Peru is currently in lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.

Solano added: “Of course I know how serious coronavirus is.

“We are taking the precautions and we know everybody in the house doesn’t have the virus.

“Our kids were bored in the house so we took them for exercise and some lunch – 200 yards away!”