Pellistri reveals endearing pre-match ritual
Like many footballers, Facundo Pellistri likes to go through several matchday rituals to get ready to play for Manchester United.
The 21-year-old winger has impressed after being given his chance by Erik ten Hag and made his fifth appearance so far this season in Tuesday’s 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace.
The Uruguayan will be hoping to face the Eagles again on Saturday, this time in the Premier League; if he does, he’ll be going through the same routines that he told us about earlier this week.
One of them involves his football socks and the other is an exchange with his girlfriend that might just be the cutest thing you’ll read this week.
Collect United: A new pre-match routine
ArticleRead about the players' matchday rituals over the years - and start your own with our digital collectibles.
"I have a lot – I think every football player has them," Pellistri said. "I don’t know why – you see the things you do and they're silly but they're the rituals you do before every match.
"I put my two socks together to see which one is longer, and I put the longer one on my right foot.
"I also send messages to my family and my girlfriend makes fun of me because I send the same messages to her every time: three heart emojis, then one more.
"And she cannot reply – if she does, I send it to her again! It's just the way that I get ready for the game."
As we illustrated recently, plenty of Reds over the years have had sometimes unusual pre-match habits, from putting their shinpads on last to eating the same food, to putting salt in their socks.
And as supporters, many of us partake in them too, whether it’s always enjoying a pre-match pie at the ground or kissing the crest before kick-off.
Many United fans are adding a new routine this season by collecting our free piece of digital memorabilia before each home match in the Premier League and Europe.
It’s a fun, digital collectible designed uniquely for each home game and it’s normally only available for 48 hours before kick-off.
But as a special celebration for the Collect United Old Trafford takeover this weekend, we're keeping the claim window open through the match.
COLLECT UNITED: CRYSTAL PALACE
You can get your free digital collectible to mark the Palace game by clicking the image below or by heading straight to collectibles.manutd.com and following these three simple steps:
1. SIGN IN TO THE COLLECTIBLES SITE
Let's start with a visit to collectibles.manutd.com, where you click Sign In, Use Social and finally your choice of Google, Facebook or Twitter account.
2. CREATE YOUR FREE DIGITAL WALLET
Signing in with your chosen social account will create an online wallet where you can store all the matchday tokens you claim throughout 2023/24. How many will you have by the end of the season? Why not challenge your friends and see who can build the biggest collection.
3. COLLECT NOW
Click this button on the collectibles.manutd.com homepage to find the latest token, and again on the next page to unlock and add it to your digital wallet. Then you're done!
The Crystal Palace collectible is available until full-time at around 17:00 BST on Saturday.
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Collect United is a free rewards programme and, by bagging our exclusive collectible before each home game, you can use that routine to unlock bigger rewards* across the season, including match tickets and signed merchandise.
*For the full terms and conditions of these rewards, please head to collectibles.manutd.com.
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