When short players get paired with the tallest mascot
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It looks like someone was trolling Daniel James by pairing him with this mascot. And he's not the first victim of this brand of banter.
Manchester United endured a night to forget this week, failing to record a single shot on target away to Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League. They've now failed to win in their past 10 away games.
And, on top of all that, their young, 5ft 7in (1.7m) Welsh winger, Daniel James had to suffer this indignity too...
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Coincidence or deliberate trolling? At least he can console himself in the knowledge that he isn't the first player to have been done dirty like this.
Lorenzo Insigne
The 5ft 3in (1.63m) Italian striker is a serial victim of mascot-based banter. This was in the build up to a Serie A game against Napoli last season.
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And only a month earlier, he had to put up with this at an England v Italy international friendly...
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It's also happened on other appearances for the national side...
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And during a trip to Torino too.
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Surely that's too many instances for it to be purely accidental, right?
N’Golo Kante
France's 5ft 6in (1.68m) midfielder was matched with this mascot before a World Cup qualifier with Bulgaria in 2017.
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Kante's similarly proportioned compatriot Mathieu Valbuena (5ft 5in, or 1.67m) was also the victim of height 'trolling' against Germany at the World Cup in 2014.
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Here's the Netherlands' 5ft 7in (1.7m) midfielder Wesley Sneijder making his feelings quite clear when he was assigned a strapping young mascot before his national side’s defeat by the Czech Republic in 2014.
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Our peak pairing? Blackpool's 5ft 6in (1.68m) Jay Spearing, who was last year assigned a 6ft 2in (1.87m), 34-year-old mascot Kevin Stuart.
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It was all part of a stag-do prank, in case you're wondering.
Article originally published 12 April 2017
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