'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
It's truly flabbergasting how much of a role the Social Media plays in modern-day football. While there are a lot of downsides associated with it -- players and managers receiving vile abuses -- the social media platforms also play a role in promoting healthy banter which is needed to keep the fan culture going.
What started off as a medium for keeping fans up to date a few years ago has become much more humorous in recent years. Three or four years ago, even player announcements were pretty mundane. In the last few transfer windows, though, clubs have often come up with unique ways which catch the imagination of the fans.
With that in mind, let's look at the top five social media posts by football clubs for the 2017-18 season:
#5 It's crucial to laugh at yourself - Borussia Moenchengladbach on their defence
The first of the lot is by German Bundesliga side Borussia Moenchengladbach. Early on in the season, they took on Borussia Dortmund at Westfalenstadoin and were hammered by the Ruhr based outfit.
Former Dortmund star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang mustered a hat-trick, Maximillian Philipp bagged a brace and even Julian Weigl scored one to make it a very one-sided scoreline of 6-1 for the hosts.
Gladbach's defence was in shambles on the night, something that was recognised by their English Twitter account. A few days later, Real Madrid were set to face Dortmund in the Champions League group stage and Gladbach took their opportunity to make a few fans smile with the following tweet...
#4 The Ündertaker is here
The AS Roma fans weren't exactly pleased when the club sold Mohamed Salah to Liverpool even though they got decent money for him. The way he started, though, made it a bit hard to digest.
After a slow start to the league, Roma picked up their form and one player who had an incredible burst at the beginning of 2018 is Cengiz Ünder. The Turkish was signed in the summer of 2017 for a fee of €13.4 million and took a bit of time to settle down at the club.
At the age of 20, no one expected him to hit the ground running straight away. However, in a spell of five games, he managed to score an incredible five goals. Deployed as a right winger more often than not, the Turk has a good left foot.
After Ünder's brace against Benevento, Roma's English Twitter account uploaded a clip that compared him to the Undertaker. You get the pun, don't you?
#3 Motherwell's imitation game
The January transfer window saw quite a few big money moves. While Liverpool were involved in two record deals, the first was signing the most expensive defender (van Dijk )and the second was the most expensive Premier League departure (Coutinho), Arsenal too were heavily involved.
Alexis Sanchez's departure to Manchester United was the most high-profile sale and the Red Devils released a video that saw Sanchez playing the piano before entering the pitch. The video was pretty well made and was appreciated by some of the rivals as well.
The video gave Scottish side Motherwell the opportunity to bring out a similar yet much funnier version. To be honest, it was more of a troll and everyone loved it. Even Manchester United acknowledged the tweet and engaged in the banter.
The side made Peter Hartley's move permanent and the video showed Peter playing a smaller sized piano before going on to smash it!
#2 Schalke's derby comeback Tweet
The Revierderby is usually a pretty feisty contest between Rugh rivals Borussia Dortmund and Schalke. You usually don't get to see one side dominating the other because frankly, the players on the pitch play with so much passion that it's hard to tell who is the superior side.
The game took place at Westfalenstadion and was a game of two halves if ever there was one. Dortmund were on a bad run of form but again, it was a derby and form is out of the picture. In a crazy opening 25 minutes, the hosts were four goals up courtesy of Aubameyang, a Stambouli own goal, Goetze and Guerriero.
After the first half, Dortmund sent out GIF on their twitter account with Omer Toprak sipping a cup of coffee. It couldn't get any easier, could it?
Schalke manager Domenico Tedesco's halftime team talk was simply to raise the spirits and ask his side to win the second half. But what happened was unbelievable.
Like Dortmund, Schalke were dominant for 30 odd minutes as they clawed back into the game. Goals from Burgstaller, Harit, Caligiuri made it 4-3 and a Naldo header in injury time made it 4-4!
Schalke's reply on Twitter? Find out yourself!
#1 A game within the game
There is banter, and then there is this. You must have noticed that the Bundesliga clubs heavily feature in the slider. The league has focussed on fan interaction quite a lot and have firmly put the notion of Germans aren't funny to bed.
Borussia Moenchengladbach and RB Leipzig faced each other in matchday 21 of the Bundesliga and the game was more of a boring contest. Leipzig had more of the clearcut chances and stole the win late via a Ademola Lookman goal, but in the 81st minute of the game, we witnessed something truly special on Twitter.
Knowing the game was a snoozefest, Gladbach Tweeted at Leipzig asking if the East Germans would be interested in playing a game of tic-tac-toe. Leipzig were ready and so the game began...
The result? Another draw. But perhaps more riveting than the actual football game itself for those who were following the text commentary!
