Chelsea shot-stopper Edouard Mendy found himself caught up in an unfortunate case of mistaken identity yet again.
In the build-up to the game between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford, Amazon Prime presenter Simon Thomas was having a dialogue with Patrice Evra, Thierry Henry and Alan Searer on the sidelines.
As Simon was heaping praise about Arsenal’s goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale save percentage being second only behind Edouard Mendy, the presenter blundered by referring to the Chelsea goalkeeper as ‘Benjamin Mendy.’
The inexplicable mistake appeared to have startled Patrice Evra, who immediately turned to look at his fellow pundits in utter disbelief.
Looooool nah look at Evra’s reaction pic.twitter.com/xhIpmljzba
— Siuuski (@MANCZINI) December 2, 2021
The incident comes only a few days after the ex-United player had suggested that Edouard Mendy deserved to win the Yashin Trophy at the Ballon d’Or.
He also seemed to insinuate that Mendy’s second-place finish for the trophy behind Gianluigi Donnarumma was due to racial reasons.
What makes the on-air incident intriguing is that it wasn’t the first time media outlets had committed such a blunder involving Edouard Mendy.
The Chelsea goalkeeper had hit out at the media after being on the receiving end of one such embarrassing mishap only a couple of weeks ago.
Mendy had taken to social media to express his displeasure over the usage of his image on a publication piece regarding Benjamin Mendy.
UK media respect Edouard Mendy challenge! (Impossible)
— Jordan (@MyGuyRudi) December 2, 2021
For the uninitiated, City defender Benjamin Mendy is currently facing trial and in custody after being accused of six counts of rape and sexual assault.
Referring to the mistake as ‘highly symbolic,’ Edouard had tweeted: “It’s not that complicated to differentiate two faces.”
“It’s not that complicated to differentiate two faces, especially when the football jersey is of valuable help!”
Soon after videos of the incident involving Simon Thomas went viral, fans began weighing on the discussion. While some believed it was nothing more than an innocuous slip of the tongue on Simon’s part, others thought of it as a case of subtle racism.