<
        >

          Ajax star Babel mocks opponent for faking injury in Europa League

          • Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerFeb 21, 2020, 05:30 AM ET

          When he thought Getafe player Allan Nyom was faking an injury, Ajax's Ryan Babel took matters into his own hands to make fun of his opponent.

          The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

          Jump to: PSG party hard | Arsenal defender sings Ricky Martin | Klopp writes letter to United fan | Barcelona's new signing underwhelms

          Ajax lost 2-0 to Getafe in the Europa League on Thursday night, but it would appear that frustration most definitely got the better of Babel in particular.

          The Dutch winger was booked in the second half for a fairly light collision with Nyom, though that didn't stop the Getafe full-back from collapsing to the floor and rolling around in pain for several minutes.

          Perturbed by Nyom's histrionics, Babel decided to mimic the "stricken" defender by falling to the floor and rolling around in mock agony.

          The Ajax winger then got to his feet and limped next to Nyom as the charade went on, even rubbing his eyes while pretending to cry.

          Speaking to FOX Sports after the game, Babel said: "I don't know if I would do it again. I found that the referee was fooled by the opponent at crucial moments. I was done with that. I thought the opponent was exaggerating a lot, so I got a yellow card."

          Ajax boss Erik ten Hag was less impressed with his player's show.

          "It wasn't smart. I don't expect that from an experienced player," Ten Hag said at his postmatch news conference. "You need to stay calm and use your head. You have to focus on your job, playing football."

          We can't wait for the second leg now.

          PSG players party hard

          This is what happens when three players at the same club celebrate their birthday together.

          In short: utter chaos. Especially when Neymar is involved.

          Arsenal's Pablo Mari sings at initiation

          Pablo Mari signed for Arsenal recently on loan from Flamengo and, as is the custom, the central defender recently underwent his initiation ceremony.

          Forced to get up and sing in front of his new teammates, Mari chose Ricky Martin classic "Maria" which seemed to go down well -- especially with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was singing along in no time.

          Mari has yet to play for the Gunners' first team but, with a golden performance like that, he may have just sealed a permanent summer deal already.

          Klopp writes to young Man United fan

          Jurgen Klopp has sent a letter to a young Manchester United fan who contacted the Liverpool boss to ask him to stop winning matches.

          Daragh Curley, 10, from County Donegal in Northern Ireland, wrote to Klopp as part of a school assignment. He politely informed the German that his table-topping side (who have 25 wins from 26 league matches so far) were making him sad because they are "winning too many games" on the way to what looks to be an inevitable title win.

          To Daragh's surprise, he soon received a personal reply from Klopp himself, with the Liverpool coach regrettably saying that he couldn't start to throw games on the youngster's behalf.

          "Unfortunately, on this occasion I cannot grant your request, not through choice anyway," Klopp wrote. "As much as you want Liverpool to lose it is my job to do everything that I can to help Liverpool to win as there are millions of people around the world who want that to happen, so I really do not want to let them down.

          "Luckily for you, we have lost games in the past and we will lose games in the future because that is football."

          So there is hope?

          Unfortunately for Daragh, Liverpool haven't lost a single Premier League fixture so far this season and by the sound of it, they certainly don't intend to start losing now.

          Barcelona's new signing underwhelms

          Barcelona completed the surprise signing of Leganes' Martin Braithwaite yesterday, after being given permission to bring in a forward outside the transfer window.

          Braithwaite, 28, first joined Leganes in January 2019 on loan from English side Middlesbrough before making the move permanent during the summer for €5m. And he signed a four-year contract at Camp Nou when they paid his €18m release clause.

          But Barca fans may be forgiven for being a tad disappointed given his efforts at showing off his skills during his presentation. Not exactly Lionel Messi, is he?