A prank that never gets old
Atalanta players were woken up multiple times throughout the night as the fire alarm in their hotel went off six times ahead of their Champions League clash against Manchester United.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are the current Group F leaders and arrive at Old Trafford having lost just twice all season.
However, their preparation ahead of their match against the Red Devils has been affected after the fire alarm at their five-star Radisson hotel went off on six different occasions throughout the night on Tuesday.
The Serie A side travelled to England on Tuesday and stayed in The Edwardian Manchester overnight ahead of Wednesday’s game, but they weren’t quite able to get the quality night’s sleep they were looking for.
It is thought that the Atalanta squad are extremely annoyed with the persistent disturbance, with one guest claiming that the alarm was set off at 4:51am, 5:00am, 5:36am, 6:11am, 6:31am and 7:13am.
The wife of midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi appears to have been staying in the hotel as she took to Instagram to express her frustration at what had happened.
😅 Atalanta players woke up five times to the sound of a fire alarm in their hotel in Manchester last night.
It wasn’t an easy night for Gasperini’s men who could not sleep properly due to the fire alarm in their hotel.#MUNATA #UCL pic.twitter.com/7OU1aqav2E
— ManUnited Today (@mun_today) October 20, 2021
She wrote: “I don’t think it was a casual incident. Do you think it’s just a [coincidence]? I don’t think so.
“Such a warm welcome from local people is terrible. I hope our fans will support our players and, perhaps, the same thing will happen in a hotel in Italy.”
It’s not the first time that United have been involved in a fire alarm prank, however, they were on the receiving end last time.
Ahead of the Red Devils’ 2-1 away defeat to Wolves in 2019, the United squad were twice woken up as they attempted to take an afternoon nap at the Mount Hotel Country Manor, near Wolverhampton.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men travel to Bergamo on November 2, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Italian fans came up with some pranks of their own in search of revenge.
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