Bruno Fernandes has mocked the farcical Champions League draw after Manchester United drew Atletico Madrid. The Red Devils initially got Paris Saint-Germain but their name was not included in one portion of the draw.
Fernandes could not help but mock the chaotic nature of the Champions League draw earlier on Monday.
United have landed Atletico Madrid in a sensational draw but initially had an even better tie when they got Paris Saint-Germain.
It meant a showdown between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but that draw was made void after a major gaffe that saw the wrong balls pulled out of the hat.
In fact, originally United were drawn against Villarreal but with teams in the same group – that mistake was rectified.
However, the second was not when the Red Devils were excluded from the pot when Atletico Madrid were pulled out with Liverpool being included instead.
It led to outrage from several clubs who were unhappy that the competition had effectively been rendered unfair by the wrong balls being used.
UEFA said in a statement: “Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the Uefa Champions League round of 16.
“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone.”
But while there was plenty of anger around the situation, United star Fernandes has seen the funny side of things.
After the Red Devils tweeted out their new opponents in Atletico Madrid, the Portugal international replied with a popcorn emoji: “What time is the 3rd round of the draw?”
There was plenty of reaction on social media, including from Gary Lineker, who referred to the controversy in Formula One.
He tweeted: “The Champions League will be a redraw. Not a great couple days for sporting authorities.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the draw Chelsea managed to amazingly pull Lille out of the bag twice in a row.
Liverpool had RB Salzburg but will face Inter Milan instead while Manchester City’s opponents changed from Villarreal to Sporting Lisbon.