Manchester United were humbled by Juventus on Tuesday in the Champions League – losing the game 1-0.
The Red Devils were outclassed and outplayed in the first half and the Old Lady went back to Italy with three points and one foot firmly into the knockout stages.
But before the high profile game, Manchester United chose to make a blunder.
The Old Trafford outfit published an article regarding Juventus’ preview before the Champions League game but then they swiftly deleted it.
But why did Manchester United delete the article?
Well, the Premier League club chose to use a particular word which has caused a fair bit of stir amongst the Juventus fans.
While describing Juventus, United chose to call them ‘Rubentus’.
And for people who do not know what that word means, it is actually nickname given to Juventus for their past problems like match-fixing and doping.
The article read: “One of the disparaging nicknames given to ‘the Old Lady’ by Tifosi from rivals like Fiorentina, Inter and Napoli is ‘Rubentus’,
“This comes from the Italian rubare, meaning ‘ to steal’, and derives from the Bianconeri ‘s once-murky reputation culminating in the Calciopoli scandal that saw them stripped of the 2005 title and relegated to Serie B as punishment for a series of match-fixing allegations.
“And before Channel 4’s Football Italia gave Serie A makeover in the 1990s – casting the country as a Fellini-esque dreamscape of pretty piazzas and cosy cafes, where the ice cream never melts – British fans eyed Italian teams with suspicion.”
But as soon as the article was published it immediately caught the attention of the Juventus fans who argued that the word not only showed the Old Lady in a bad light but also insulted Italian football in general.
While the club have responded swiftly by taking the article down but some fans have come out in support saying that United posted nothing but facts.
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