With the new European domestic season still a month away from starting, teams are preparing themselves in some intense pre-season training sessions.
Pre-season also allows players to interact more with the fans, be it on tour or just in general. While most of the fan interactions are cordial, not all are so pleasant for the footballers or managers. In fact, some can get particularly embarrassing.
This happened to Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey as he started pre-season training with the Italian club. The Welsh international is no longer in Massimiliano Allegri’s plans for next season. Paul Pogba’s signing has further depleted his chances of prominently featuring for Juve going forward.
But Ramsey still took some time to meet with Juventus supporters on his first day back after the holidays. He decided to sign some autographs for them but was instead brutally trolled by a few cheeky fans.
As he was signing the autographs, a fan handed him a diary with the words ‘Rescissione Contrattuale’ written. This directly translates to ‘Contract Termination’ in English. That’s one way to get under the skin of your own team’s player.
But Ramsey wasn’t the only one on the receiving end of a prank recently. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola found himself in an awkward situation.
The Spaniard is currently still holding pre-season training in Manchester and had decided to go out for a ride on his bicycle at night. One City fan saw him doing so and proceeded to ask him to stop and take a photograph with him.
However, Guardiola might’ve felt threatened by that, as he decided to speed away on his bike as the supporter chased him around. Eventually, the man chasing him on his own bicycle caught up to him and interacted with Pep.
The person recording the video repeatedly assured the Man City boss that he was only looking for a photograph and nothing else. In the end, Pep decided to strike an awkward pose with him for a picture before going his own way.