The Manchester United team bus was clamped in Dublin yesterday ahead of their friendly match with Sampdoria - or so it first appeared.

A photo which surfaced on Twitter convinced fans that Jose Mourinho's men had parked the bus in the wrong place and had been clamped.

Thousands of social media users were fooled as well as news outlets - but it turned out it was just a clamping worker with a sense of humour.

Coach driver Garry Tobin tweeted that it had been "clarified by transport manager from the coach company the clamper was just messing wanted a picture."

Another angle of the photo posted on Facebook by user Wayne Murphy captioned "Just a wind-up" shows clearly that the photo was posed.

A spokesman for the club told the Irish Sun : “It was a spur of the moment stunt by the clamping authorities in Ireland who were nearby to the team coach.

“They asked the coach driver there and then for a quick photograph of them clamping the team bus which he agreed to.

“The coach had all the correct permissions to park… and there are no further issues or sanctions.”