Rio Ferdinand may have been known as being a bit of prankster when it comes to his team-mates, but he was on receiving end of a cheeky move from Cristiano Ronaldo before Man Utd‘s game against Southampton. 

The former United defender was part of BT Sport’s live coverage of the game and was previewing the game alongside Paul Scholes and Peter Crouch in the centre-circle of St Mary’s pitch. 

As the two sides warmed-up around the TV pundits, Ronaldo saw a perfect opportunity to get one over his former United pal. 

Cristiano Ronaldo grabs a drinks bottle and targets Rio Ferdinand for a St Mary’s soaking 

Ferdinand looks at the impact of Ronaldo’s water attack as the water ran down to his feet 

The former United ace was not happy to see his cream suede shoes get wet from Ronaldo 

Grabbing a drinks bottle and squirting Ferdinand with a flurry of water bursts, much to the amusement of the Portuguese prankster. 

Ferdinand saw the funny side of the joke, but complained that the water had got all over his cream suede shoes. As Scholes and Crouch looked on grinning at their former England team-mate. 

Ronaldo had earlier greeted both Ferdinand and Scholes on the side of the pitch as he began his warm-up. There was no echoes of the snub he gave Jamie Carragher though, and also embraced ex-Liverpool star Crouch. 

Ronaldo started the game on the bench alongside new signing Casemiro at Southampton 

Cristiano would enter the fray in the second half of United’s 1-0 win over Southampton 

Ronaldo was a watching spectator from the bench as Erik ten Haag kept with the same side that beat Liverpool on Monday night. 

The 37-year-old did enter the fray late in the second half, as United ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a second half winner from Bruno Fernandes. 

The Portuguese star was joined on the bench by new signing Casemiro, who began the game as a substitute, but made his United bow in the second half at St Mary’s.  

Share or comment on this article:

Rio Ferdinand falls fail of former Man Utd team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo in pre-match prank

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual

We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.

You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.

A smile a day (or maybe 2 or 3 if we’re being generous) keeps the negativity away. Studies even suggest that smiling can help us recover faster from stress and reduce our blood pressure. It also helps release feel-good neuropeptides, which are tiny molecules that allow neurons to communicate, and they can fight off stress and brighten your day. That said, we at Bright Side have managed to wrap a dose of joy and happiness into 15 pictures, and we want to give them to you as a little gift.

An elephant has ripped its handler in half after it was forced to haul wood from a plantation during a heatwave in Thailand.

The male elephant, named Pom Pam, stabbed Supachai Wongfaed, 33, with its tusks several times and ripped his body in half after ‘going crazy’ in the heat, police said. 

The 20-year-old elephant had been hauling rubberwood from a plantation in the hot weather, where temperatures reached 89 degrees Fahrenheit (31C), in southern Thailand’s Phang Nga province for four days when it turned on its handler. 

Police officers and rescue workers were called to the scene on August 17 where they found Wongfaed’s body ripped in two in a pool of blood. 

The male elephant, named Pom Pam, stabbed Supachai Wongfaed, 33, with its tusks several times and ripped his body in half (pictured) after ‘going crazy’ in the heat, police said

The 20-year-old elephant had been hauling rubberwood from a plantation in the hot weather, where temperatures reached 89 degrees Fahrenheit (31C), in southern Thailand’s Phang Nga province for four days when it turned on its handler (file image) 

Livestock officers and volunteers searched for the elephant and found him around 500 yards away from Wongfaed’s body.

They then shot Pom Pam with a sedative dart from a range of around 550 yards so that rescue workers could retrieve the handler’s body. 

The livestock offers later transported the elephant to their facility for rehabilitation. 

Asian elephants are sometimes used to carry logs and woods in forested areas of Thailand, despite a 30-year-old law banning the practice. 

Takua Thung police Lieutenant Colonel Sorasak Chandee said: ‘We were called to the scene at a rubber plantation where we found the dead body of a mahout.

‘The elephant owner was attacked and killed by his animal. The elephant was aggressive when we found it. We suspect her was irritable and attacked his caretaker.’

Wonfaed’s father is Thawon Wongfaed, the former mayor of the Khok Charoen subdistrict in central Thailand. His body has been taken to relatives for his funeral.

Elephants are sometimes used to carry logs and woods in forested areas of Thailand, despite a 30-year-old law banning the practice (stock image) 

Last month, another handler was killed by his elephant at a rubberwood plantation in Chawang district, southern Thailand

Chaichana Matchimwong was found dead by police with multiple tusk wounds after he made the elephant carry heavy logs along a road, reports the Bangkok Post.

Elephant Phlai Ekasit (pictured) killed his 54-year-old owner at a Thai zoo in 2017 by crushing him to death with his trunk

In 2017, a famous Thai elephant who starred in films and adverts crushed his handler to death at a zoo in Thailand. 

Somsak Riangngern, 54, was killed at Chiang Mai Zoo by a 32-year-old male elephant named Phlai Ekasit.

Mr Riangngern had fed Phlai and unchained him so he could bathe and drink when the attack happened. As Mr Riangngern was walking away from the elephant when the animal struck him with its trunk and tusks before grabbing him with its trunk.

Ekasit is well known in Thailand having starred in five films including the popular Ong Bak series starring martial arts expert Tony Jaa. 

Ekasit had reportedly been performing in shows for tourists, though Wuthichai denied this, saying the zoo only allows tourists to feed the animals.

Thailand is notorious for an elephant tourism trade that sees the animals performing in circuses, giving rides, or hired out for other forms of entertainment.

Animal rights group PETA said that elephants working in captivity ‘have been torn from their jungle homes to be sold like equipment’. The group says they are ‘forced to haul illegal logs or entertain tourists’.

Share or comment on this article:

Elephant rips handler in half after ‘going crazy’ in heat as it was made to haul wood in Thailand

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual

We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.

You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.