Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has been hacked on social media platform X with a number of bizarre posts shared to his page.
Fernandes, who has more than 4.5million followers, played 90 minutes as his side lost in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon, going down 2-1 to Brighton.
And his day went from bad to worse late in the evening when his account was compromised, with the first post reading: ‘Join Macclesfield FC. Excited for the future.’ Sixth-tier Macclesfield Town knocked holders Crystal Palace out of the cup on Saturday.
Another post: ‘At the end of the day I will always be a winner. No matter what,’ accompanied by a money bag emoji.
A number of X-rated posts were later published on the social media platform, including derogatory remarks made towards female footballer Alisha Lehmann and social media star KSI.
The most viewed post, however, was aimed at United’s ownership structure, reading: ‘let’s get rid of INEOS.’ Ineos are the company owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is the minority owner of United and in charge of football operations.
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes had his X account hacked late on Sunday night
The account said ‘let’s get rid of Ineos’ – Manchester United’s co-owners – as the club warned fans of the events
Fans quickly flooded to the replies to question the posts, and it wasn’t long before Manchester United’s official account wrote: ‘Bruno Fernandes’s X account has been hacked. Supporters should not engage with any of the posts or direct messages.’
The hacker shared that post to Fernandes’s page, replying: ‘Make sure you guys stay alert for any hacks.’
Other posts included: ‘1v1 fifa @LukeTheNuke180’ and: ‘jake paul beat AJ but you aren’t ready for that conversation.’
After a period of 15 minutes without a post, fans were hopeful the account had been recovered, but it then posted: ‘are you not entertained.’
And four minutes later, it shared a photo of the scoreboard at Anfield when Liverpool beat United 7-0 in March 2023.
Another post that raised eyebrows was a reply to 18-year-old United star Shea Lacey, who was sent off against Brighton. Lacey had posted: ‘I want to apologise to all of my teammtaes staff and the fans. I let everybody down tonight I shouldn’t let my emotions get the better of me I will do everything I can to make this right.’
The person behind Fernandes’s account replied: ‘just don’t do it again g.’
The page continued to share posts and reply to fans as midnight passed, with officials scrambling to recover the account.
Before the incident, the account, which has been active since April 2019, had just over 500 posts, with the most recent update by the player a celebration of the Portuguese’s 300th Manchester United appearance in October.
