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Balotelli’s healing hands and more – it’s our April Fools’ Day 2012 round-up

Balotelli comes to the aid of a boy who has fainted
Balotelli the healer (Image: EnriDn/YouTube)

After another cracking April Fools’ Day, the internet is awash with spoof videos and tales. Football Burp will seek to bring some clarity and gives you the best football stories of April Fools 2012.

Balotelli heals “boy”

Who could be better then young Mario Balotelli to kick us off. Take a look at this video that popped up on Italian website Corriere dello Sport.it, which shows the player coming to the aid of an apparently-younger-than-he looks-boy who appears to have fainted:

Santos fans sent into frenzy by Ganso tweet

Spurs transfer target Ganso set the social networks buzzing as he announced on Twitter that he was leaving Santos. The star midfielder has been the subject of much transfer speculation recently and has been linked with numerous clubs including AC Milan and Inter, so fans of the Brazilian club were left reeling after reading:

Hoje é com o coração partido que me despeço da Nação Santista.. Obrigado por tudo ! Bom Domingo a todos !

— Paulo Henrique Ganso (@SamsungPHGanso) April 1, 2012

… roughly translated as:

“Today I say goodbye to Santos’ fans with a broken heart. Thank you for all! Good Sunday, everyone!”

Five minutes later though, he left a lot of people relieved:

1º de abril … kkkkkkkkkk… Um Domingo abençoado pra vocês com uma grande vitória do peixão mais tarde !!!

— Paulo Henrique Ganso (@SamsungPHGanso) April 1, 2012

… and again, if you can’t read Portuguese:

“April Fools’ Day! A blessed day to you with a great victory from Santos later today !!!”

Glazer family want to move United to New York

Never one to shy away from a good spoof on this special day, The Mirror got in on the act too with their piece on how the Glazer family wish to move Manchester United over to New York.

The article goes on to say that the Glazer family “intend to soften the blow on United supporters by organising cheap flights between Manchester and New York for home games” and that United fans representative April Olof told Sunday ­Mirror Sport: “It’s an exciting ­prospect, but we have so many ­travelling fans, ­especially from ­Surrey. They will be ­disappointed that the flights to New York are only planned from Manchester.”

There is also a claim that “the Glazers would like to see David Beckham back in a United shirt”. Now wouldn’t that be nice. Read the full article on Mirror Football.

Statue of Neptune appears with football

Finally, tourists and residents of Gdansk, Poland alike were left amazed as a statue of Neptune on a fountain in the city centre was replaced overnight by a fake depicting the Roman god of water and the sea controlling a football. See some pictures taken by photographer Michal Fludra.