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Football

19th May 2018

Medhi Benatia left brutally hanging in Serie A title presentation ceremony

Ouch

Darragh Murphy

That had to sting.

Saturday was supposed to be a joyous occasion for Medhi Benatia.

A 2-1 final day victory over Verona closed out Juventus’ season and much of the focus was on club legend Gianluigi Buffon, for whom the day was one big farewell party.

The Serie A trophy presentation ceremony followed the game and while it was an enjoyable experience for most of Juve players, everything didn’t go exactly how Benatia would have hoped.

As the defender approached the stage to collect his winner’s medal, he politely offered a handshake to the pair of models on his way.

https://twitter.com/JuveTimeline/status/997858831668461569

Unfortunately, shaking hands was clearly not part of the models’ remit and they just blankly stared at him before he was forced to walk away, embarrassed.

While the embarrassing exchange reminded plenty of fans of Nicklas Bendtner’s awkward handshake with a different pair of models several years ago, at least Bendtner got some bit of acknowledgement.

Benatia made his move to Juventus a permanent one last summer and made 33 appearances this season.

He is reportedly being monitored by Marseille and given how humiliating a moment he had to live through on Saturday, perhaps he’ll be tempted to move to France just to put the cringeworthy incident behind him.