Not even in their wildest dreams would Barcelona have imagined that the troll-happy Malayalis would gatecrash their party over the signing of Brazilian Philippe Coutinho.
On Jan 9, the football giants put out a video on Twitter showing Coutinho being introduced to his new club and teammates. The attacking midfielder was signed up from Liverpool for a record sum of 142 million pounds.
However, what caught the attention of the football fans from God's own country was the chant in the background in the initial few seconds of the video. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the devotional chants (or was it a remixed version of the original one?) sung in praise of Lord Ayyappan, the deity of the famous Sabarimala Temple in Kerala.
๐ฅ New club, new pals for @Phil_Coutinho! ๐ต๐ด pic.twitter.com/LtNyNwFzdl
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 9, 2018
What followed was a hilarious avalanche of trolls and tweets aimed at the Spanish football giants. The response was mostly good-natured and humourous, unlike the case of tennis sensation Maria Sharapova (because she didn't know who Sachin Tendulkar was) or Prime Minister Narendra Modi (for comparing Kerala to Somalia) or BJP president Amit Shah (for visiting the state amid much fanfare), who were trolled left and right by the Malayalis.
Introducing Swami Ayyappan.The chant that reveberates beyond stadiums & lands. pic.twitter.com/FqabJGxVDS
— HARIGOVINDAN (@Hari__Nair) January 10, 2018
If You Guys Dont Have A Chant Take it from somewhere elz man Dont Copy From Sabarimala Devotiees - Mammutinhieo pic.twitter.com/PiAf4ngySn
— Sarath Kannan (@sachinkottara) January 11, 2018
Barca Twitter handler right now. pic.twitter.com/pE8SJ4b87j
— Jithin Varghese Alex (@CaptJack3parrow) January 11, 2018
เดตเดฟเดทเตเดตเดฟเดณเดเตเดเดฟเดจเตเดเตเดเดพเดฏเดฟเดฐเดฟเดเตเดเตเด เดฒเตเดฒเต.... pic.twitter.com/U4zxNCWRIm
— เดธเตเดงเดฟ (@Changaayees) January 11, 2018
The club is yet to respond to the use of the chant in the video.
