Manchester United are investigating how a number of players’ boots went missing ahead of their vital UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifier in Norway on Thursday.
The issue only came to light on the day of the match in Bergen, as the team had completed their pre-match training at Carrington before traveling. Upon arrival, staff discovered that some of the boots had not made the journey.
With time running out before the 16:30 local time kick-off, club officials rushed to a local sports store, Torshov Sport, less than three hours before the match, where they purchased 15 pairs of football boots and 20 sets of shin guards.
“We’re a big store, but they were lucky we had enough boots in the right sizes,” shop owner Andre Gullord said.
Gullord revealed that each pair of boots cost between £200 and £230, and the shin guards were priced at £30 each. He estimated the emergency purchase totaled just under £4,000.
“It’s not unusual for a player to pop in if they’ve forgotten their boots, but we’ve never had an entire team need replacements,” he said. Jokingly, he added: “Maybe we should’ve told them we only had boots without studs, to help the local team!”
Despite the quick fix, United suffered a 1-0 defeat to SK Brann in the first leg, as they aim to reach the Champions League main draw for the first time in the club’s history.
United midfielder Lisa Naalsund, a native of Bergen, said after the match that she had even called on her mother to bring boots to the stadium to help out.
“There were a few pairs that disappeared,” Naalsund said. “We’re still not sure where they went. It was just before we headed to the stadium, so there was a bit of chaos.”
The team had traveled to Norway via charter flight from Manchester to accommodate a tight schedule, with a Women’s Super League match against London City Lionesses coming up on Sunday.
A Manchester United spokesperson confirmed the incident, stating that “a bag containing some of our players’ boots went missing during the journey to Bergen. We are currently investigating how this happened. In the meantime, we secured replacement boots of the correct make and sizes for all affected players.”
Post comments (0)