Seriously, how many times do people need be told?
Just because you've seen a quote on the internet, *it doesn't mean it's real*.
Football fans, bless 'em, have been particularly slow to learn this lesson - as
anyone who's seen the work of @WeahsCousin on Twitter will testify. Ahead of the Manchester derby a couple of weeks ago, we showed you how Manchester United fans were (again)
circulating his fake Paul Scholes quote, which claimed that City aren't as big a club as the Haçienda, the legendary nightclub based in the city that enjoyed its heyday during the eighties and nineties.
Now, in the aftermath of the all-Madrid Champions League semi-final second leg at the Vicente Calderon, it seems plenty of United fans have fallen victim to another made up quote.
Minutes after Isco had scored a tie-ending away goal for Real Madrid, cameras picked up
Fernando Torres falling short in his attempts to intimidate Cristiano Ronaldo. The former Liverpool and Chelsea striker was seen shoving Ronaldo and attempting to square up to him. Ronnie, though, was having none of it, and as he laughed in Torres' face, it was noted that he also had a few words for him, too.
https://twitter.com/King_Thomas22/status/862391947599781888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffernando-torres-attempt-to-intimidate-cristiano-ronaldo-didnt-go-to-plan-125042
Inevitably, there was much speculation as to what Ronaldo might have said to Torres.
Step forward Andrew Jerell Jones, who jokingly suggested that Ronaldo had compared United's dominance over Liverpool during his spell in England to Real's streak of Champions League victories over Atleti.
Of course, the quote was complete and utter bollocks. Its creator even says as much in the replies to it.
Despite this, the sight of quotation marks, a reference to one of English football's most intense footballing rivalries and a verified Twitter account was all that was needed for the tweet to start racking up the retweets.
Before long, it was even being tweeted by other accounts, too.
https://twitter.com/RMadridNewsRoom/status/862541529306595328
https://twitter.com/RedDevilsEra/status/862474894696632320
https://twitter.com/MarcoRedDevil/status/862456164516278272
