The selfie made by a pitch invader in United’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace yesterday has made its way onto Tiktok.
During a break in play, the young man ran onto the pitch and straight to Casemiro, taking the selfie with him and kissing him on the neck.
Casemiro dealt with the situation calmly as Selhurst stewards seemed to take an age to respond and deal with the situation.
The guy who got the selfie with Casemiro đŸ˜‚đŸ‡§đŸ‡· pic.twitter.com/2wRLoWEy9g
— UtdPlug (@UtdPlug) January 19, 2023
Whilst it all turned out to be a benign act of high spirits, the ease with which the man was able to approach and touch a player is a matter of concern for the Premier League.
There have been various incidences in sport of fans attacking players, including a high profile one last weekend when a fan kicked Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale at the end of the North London derby.
Tennis star Monica Seles was also famously stabbed on court by a deranged Steffi Graf fan in 1993.
Palace seem to be attracting pitch invasions this season. In September, Everton were fined £300,000 by the Premier League for fans spilling onto the pitch against Patrick Vieira’s men.
Whether or not yesterday’s act of lunacy affected the Brazilian cannot be known.
He did not appear to be fazed, although an ill-timed lunge later in the game led to a yellow card that rules him out of Sunday’s vital clash with league leaders Arsenal at Highbury.
It was an unnecessary and clumsy tackle that did not go down well with manager Erik ten Hag or his assistant coach Steve McClaren, as can be seen from another social media post.
Steve McClaren’s reaction when Casemiro received a yellow card against Crystal Palace. đŸ˜‚ #MUFC pic.twitter.com/FfITQgqVKq
— MUFC Scoop (@MUFCScoop) January 19, 2023
United’s dropped points at Selhurst means that talk of a title challenge may have been premature, although a win against the Gunners would quickly rekindle them.