The 2015/16 season in football has been one of the most memorable in recent memory. Right from Leicester City’s incredible and unprecedented triumph in the English Premier League to Barcelona and Real Madrid fighting it out for the La Liga title on the last day of the season, there has not been a shortage of drama on the pitches across the European footballing universe.
As such, there was plenty of ammunition for the billions of football fans on Twitter to wield their own brand of humour related to football. Sometimes, it wasn’t even fans, but the players who displayed that they have as much skill with 140 characters and a smartphone that they have with a football.
While there were plenty of humorous tweets to go around this season, here are 15 of the most memorable ones, in no particular order:
Paris St. Germain vs Ryan Giggs
Angel Di Maria has played for some of the biggest clubs in world football, and when he signed for Manchester United last season, his signing was greeted with delight. However, the Argentinian left Old Trafford after a miserable season and left for Paris St. Germain.
While many in the footballing universe viewed this as a step down in Di Maria's career, PSG defender Thiago Silva felt differently, claiming that the Argentinian was moving to a 'bigger' club in PSG. Predictably, outrage followed by much of the Manchester United faithful in Twitter, but Silva's proclamation was completely and utterly shoved down his throat by comparing the French club's historical record with a single Manchester United player, Ryan Giggs.
We’ll let the effect of the tweet speak for itself:
Wayne Rooney and the Swansea mascot
Wayne Rooney is an imposing enough figure in the dressing room, without having mascots confirm it for us. The Manchester United striker is a bonafide superstar and it’s pretty obvious that if one were a fan of the Englishman, they would react like the most emotional fangirl if meting him in person.
When Manchester United took on Swansea earlier in the season, one of the Swan’s mascots had a reaction that only has to be seen to be believed :
Clearly, the boy is a Rooney fan, but the tweet’s allusion to the reaction of a man around a ‘fetching’ woman was well-timed, to say the least.
Chelsea’s misery
Chelsea’s misery has been the source of much schadenfreude this season, as the Blues followed a 2014/15 Premier League title with an absolutely horrid start to the season that had them hovering near the relegations zone and eventually resulting in the sacking of legendary Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.
However, perhaps the best serendipitous moment of Chelsea’s season came together beautifully in a phonetic manner as the tweet spells it out:
Eden Hazard, who was the 2014/15 Player of the Season, followed it with a goal drought in the Premier League that continued until the fag-end of the Premier League season. While there were plenty who took a shot at the mirth of the situation, we found this particular tweet to be the best:
San Marino vs Ronaldo
San Marino are quite often the laughing stock of European football. The small nation are the very definiton of minnows, routinely being on the end of hammerings as other nations iwth a greater footballing history put multiple goals past their keeper. However, what has been a particularly galling source of embarrasment for San Marino has been their inability to score.
Prior to September 2015, San Marino had gone an incredible 14 years without scoring in a comepetitive fixture away from home, with Matteo Vitaioli’s goal against Lithuania providing the minnows with a huge reason to celebrate.
The person running San Marino’s twitter handle did not hold back, however, as they took aim at Cristiano Ronaldo, then going through a goal-drought in September. ‘San Marino >>>>> Cristiano Ronaldo’ is the very definition of an epic troll.
Deluded Brendan’s 2015/16 season
Brendan Rodgers had made plenty of astonishing statements in his time as manager of Liverpool, and it resulted in the spawning of the Twitter account ‘Deluded Brendan’. With over 326,000 followers on Twitter, the parody account has a history of reducing people to tears with laughter.
When The Englishman was sacked by Liverpool earlier in the season, this was the perfect way to display ‘deludedness’:
With Chelsea struggling, guess who stepped up to offer his services?:
Deluded Brendan did not even let Pep Guardiola’s appointment for Manchester City pass by without comment:
One of the best Twitter accounts ever.
Mathieu Flamini and Arsenal
Mathieu Flamini began the season as a relatively non-descript footballer, being Arsenal’s third choice defensive midfielder. However, as the season progressed, in an astonishing revelation, the Frenchman let it be known that he stood to earn billions having created a company that could potentially provide a renewable replacement for oil.
With Flamini’s billions in sight, Arsenal fans indulged in the dream that he would buy the club and get them Lionel Messi:
However, when Barcelona met Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League, Flamini had the wrong idea of getting close to Messi, conceding a penalty within 47 seconds of coming on.
May the Frenchman continue to provide mirth for football, if the oil replacement business doesn’t pan out.
Ronaldo on a potential Messi movie
Cristiano Ronaldo is not shy about tooting his own horn, and when the cinematic trailer of a movie about his life, titled ‘Ronaldo’, came out, the world was not surprised. The Portuguese star was wrapped up in the promotion for the movie all throughout November and thus landed on the British chat show, ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’.
Ross, the host quizzed Ronaldo about how the movie came into being, with Ronaldo expressing his shock that the producers had approached him. Ross cheekily responded, “Why me (Ronaldo), why not Messi?”
Ronaldo’s response was perhaps the greatest ever piece of trolling between the pair, as this tweet made clear:
Pique vs Real Madrid
Gerard Pique is perhaps the best generator of news headlines in the Barcelona squad. However, it is the Barcelona defenders antics on social media, rather than his prowess on the pitch which has got the Spaniard into the news, with a feud with Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa and Madrid legend Guti keeping the Spanish press churning.
It all began with this tweet by Pique right after Real Madrid were thrown out of the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player
Former Madrid star Jose Maria Guti then took the chance to rub it in when Barcelona dropped a point, with the Spaniard tweeting ‘congratulations Barca for a point.’
When Barcelona lost to Real Sociedad, Alvaro Arbeloa also taunted Pique/Barcelona, tweeting ‘How hard is it to win against 11?’, referring to Barcelona’s streak of wins against teams playing with ten men.
Pique had the last laugh in the end, as Barcelona won La Liga on the last day of the season, with the Spaniard also taking the time to poke fun at Real Madrid in the bus parade.
The Return of Aaron Ramsey’s Curse
Aaron Ramsey’s infamous curse has returned. The Welshman was in fine goalscoring form in the 2013/14 season and scored 16 goals in all competitions. However, what was rather mystifying about Ramsey’s scoring streak was that celebrities tended to die a few days after he’d scored.
When Ramsey struggled with form and injury in the past few years, celebrities the world over probably breathed a sigh of relief. However, a spate of goals in January had the world worried, and predictably Ramsey’s curse struck again, as compiled for us in this tweet:
Clearly this is not something Aaron Ramsey would retweet.
Manchester United’s woes
The Red Devils have had a miserable season so far, although the FA Cup might redeem the mood at Old Trafford. However, Manchester United have not been without their fare share of unfortunate instances this season, which has allowed the Twitterati to bask in the afterglow of another season of ‘failure’ at United.
The nadir of United’s season was propbably the loss to Europa League minnows FC Midtjylland, with the Danish club’s relatively new origins providing the source of mirth for this tweet:
Anthony Martial and David de Gea are probably the only ones to exit the Manchester United season with any credit, although Marcus Rashford might have a say about it. However, that hasn’t stopped Twitter from poking fun at the Red Devil’s sqaud this season:
Louis van Gaal’s ‘fall’
Louis van Gaal's eccentric nature has forever been known, however the Dutchman provided one of the moments of the season with a caricature of a ‘dive’ when Manchester United took on Arsenal at Old Trafford. Van Gaal was making his point to the referee, but as the TV cameras were aimed at him, the moment became one of the best sources of memeworthy content.
As the photoshop battles began, they spawned a plethora of Van Gaal memes.
Andre Marriner’s troll-worthy moment
Referees are the custodians of football’s rules and regulations. The most important man in the middle has to deal with a 22 incredibly emotional, adrenaline-fueled egos on the pitch while also dealing with the managers and staff on the touchline, not to mention a partisan crowd ready to crucify you for the slightest of errors, to say nothing of the billions watching a football match on TV.
Thus, it’s hardly a surprise that most referees are sour-faced dour individuals without a sense of humour. However, Andre Marriner shoved that notion out of the window after pretending the grab the match ball away from Sadio Mane after the Southampton star had scored a hat-trick.
The roller-coaster of genuine emotions on Mane’s face is something we will forever be grateful for:
Leicester City are Champions!
Sometimes, words aren’t enough to capture emotions. The 140 characters afforded by Twitter cannot adequately capture the joy the Leicester City players felt upon winning the Premier League trophy. Thus, Christian Fuchs went with the most obvious option, as the Foxes gathered at Jamie Vardy’s house to celebrate Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Spurs that crowned Leicester City 2015/16 Prmeier League champions.
Here is perhaps the greatest expression of joy you will ever witness:
Mesut ‘Enzo Ferrari’ Ozil?
Mesut Ozil has enjoyed his best season till date in an Arsenal shirt, topping the assists chart with 20 over the course of the season in all competitions, while also creating a staggering 181 chances in the 2015/16 season, thus making him the most creaative player in Europe. His reward was to win Arsenal’s 2015/16 Player of the Season award.
However, Ozil may take greater pride in learning about the following tweet:
The German may not be as fast or as flash as a Ferrari, but this will surely spook the calm, unflappable Ozil.
Tottenham Trolls
Much like Leicester City flipped the script this season, Tottenham Hotspur’s metamorphosis into genuine title contenders was a source of shock for many. Where had the club that was so often the laughing stock of English football gone?
Indeed, when Spurs were catching up to the Foxes, Harry Kane took it upon himself to issue a warning to Leicester City. After they predictably slipped up however, Jamie Vardy was not merciful, tweeting this:
Spurs were left with a consolation however – a chance to finally finish above Arsenal for the first time in 21 years. In the ‘Spursiest’ of fashions, Tottenham collapsed to a 5-1 loss against Newcastle on the final day, gifting the Gunners second place.
A feat aptly summed up by this tweet:
