Manchester United’s official twitter account posted a video on Sunday afternoon launching a subtle dig at Arsenal and their social media team.
The clip, which was sent out to United’s 35 million followers on the app, showed Erik ten Hag and his squad as they greeted the club’s mascots ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against Brighton at Wembley.
The video was accompanied by the caption: ‘Making memories with our mascots,’ in reference to a previous tweet from Arsenal last week.
Last Sunday, Arsenal players came under fire for a video the club posted to their social media channels, also titled ‘making memories with our mascot,’ which caused a storm online.
As the Arsenal squad made their way into the dressing room before their eventual 2-2 draw with West Ham, they were met by an eight-year-old girl and her father waiting patiently to have her souvenir shirt signed.
Manchester United’s official twitter account posted a video on Sunday launching a subtle dig at Arsenal and their social media team, using a similar caption after their mascot drama
Arsenal came under fire after a video showed them appearing to ignore mascot Olivia Murray
United’s social media team initially used the caption ‘Moments to cherish’ before copying the tweet used by Arsenal social media team last week
The Arsenal players obliged, however, their lack of engagement with the young fan caused outrage online.
The clip immediately went viral on Twitter as thousands of people could not understand why none of the players seemed to want to speak or even make eye contact with the mascot.
The Gunners were accused of being ‘entitled, overpaid and rude’ but the girl’s father insisted the footage was just a ‘small window’ on her day.
Mikel Arteta also had to come to the defence of his players when asked about the matter during a press conference later in the week.
The Gunners have been heavily criticised on social media for appearing to ignore the girl
Arteta insisted: ‘First of all it comes from Arsenal TV and when you speak about connection and what we have built with our supporters, it’s for what we do every single day.
‘You speak to (her) parents and they had the most amazing day. So you’ve just seen a fragment of a picture – what happened before that and afterwards, nobody saw and I think it’s not fair.’
At Wembley, United’s mascots were treated to a penalty shootout victory over Brighton to set up a Manchester Derby in the FA Cup final in June.
The Red Devils will face their local rivals Manchester City in the final.