Manchester United star’s awkward mascot moment

Manchester United fans were in hysterics after one of their players was made to look like a schoolboy in the Europa League.

Manchester United fans were in hysterics when Daniel James was paired with the tallest mascot ahead of their Europa League clash on Friday (AEST).

The Red Devils were in the Netherlands to take on AZ Alkmaar, with summer-signing James starting in the United attack.

But when the two teams made their way out for kick-off, Twitter went into meltdown with the choice of mascots.

James, signed from Swansea City in June for $32m, is not the tallest player — standing around 170cm. The kid he walked out with was not much shorter, if at all.

“Daniel James was given the tallest mascot in United’s game against AZ Alkmaar tonight,” one user said. “You can hardly see him.”

Another wrote: “Nice of Dan James to bring his older brother out as a mascot.”

A third added: “Whoever assigned these mascots is a troll — legit gave Daniel James the tallest one.”

Someone even quipped that “James’ teammates definitely paid a 32-year-old to dress up like a mascot just to mess with him”.

It didn’t get much better for James, 21, as he struggled to have much of an influence on the game — like the majority of his teammates — as it finished 0-0.

Daniel James is surrounded by AZ Alkmaar players. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP)

James was subbed out just after the hour mark for Marcus Rashford. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

The Welshman was deployed in a more central role than usual, interchanging with Mason Greenwood and Angel Gomes.

But the youngsters could not combine to unlock the resolute Alkmaar defence, which included ex-Aston Villa man Ron Vlaar.

James was pulled off after 63 minutes with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer turning to Marcus Rashford in the hope of finding a goal but United could not get the breakthrough.

The Daniel James at centre forward experiment is over

— James Robson (@jamesrobsonES) October 3, 2019

This article was originally published by The Sun and reproduced with permission