Photo: J League
You can always trust the J League to deliver when it comes to unfettered weirdness on a football pitch, and Sunday’s crunch tie between Cerezo Osaka and Vissel Kobe was no exception.
The match itself was nothing out of the ordinary, with Osaka registering a straightforward 3-1 victory over Lukas Podolski’s lot.
However, the pre-match pageantry was more than a little odd, involving as it did a fully-kitted macaque monkey politely delivering the match ball to the referee…
おさるさんがキックイン🐒⁉️
審判にしっかりとボールを渡すことができました⚽️👏@crz_officialその他の動画はこちら👇https://t.co/DnlKbUIXC0 #Ｊリーグ pic.twitter.com/rloCh6GmUV
— Ｊリーグ (@J_League) November 27, 2017
Why is nobody in the video the least bit phased by this? Is the monkey mascot a regular fixture at Cerezo Osaka matches?
We have many questions, but sadly oh so few answers.