Malta captain mutes goal celebration after journalist slain

Malta captain Andre Schembri says the car bomb slaying of a Maltese investigative journalist prompted him not to exult after scoring an historic goal.

Schembri's temporary equalizer for Cypriot club Apollon in a 3-1 loss to Italian side Atalanta in the Europa League on Thursday made him the first Maltese player to score in proper European competition - excluding qualifying.

But instead of pumping his fist or leaping in joy over the achievement, Schembri hung his head as teammates mobbed him.

Schembri wrote on Facebook on Friday, "Celebrating my goal didn't feel right after what happened in Malta this week."

Malta has been stunned since Monday by the slaying of Daphne Caruana Galizia , an anti-corruption reporter whose targets included Malta's leading politicians.

"When they killed Daphne I wasn't able to sleep for three nights," Schembri told the ANSA news agency. "Malta is Europe, it's not the third world. We need to be united when faced with grief like this, to say that we're better than all of this.

"I love my country and with that goal it came naturally to me to think about a reporter's freedom and the life of a mother of three children."