In a true ‘you have to see it to believe it moment’, players from Juventus found themselves with front row seats to a US president discussing the possibility of launching military strikes on Iran.
The FIFA Club World Cup is currently underway in the USA and of course Donald Trump wasn’t going to let escalating tensions in the Middle East get in the way of a good photo opportunity.
So when Italian giants Juventus were in town to face off against Al Ain in Washington DC, staff at the White House decided to invite them into the Oval Office for a meet and greet with the 79-year-old US leader.
The moment was a horrendously awkward one, as members of the squad – which included US players Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie as well as manager Igor Tudor – were lined up behind President Trump as he held court with various news reporters.
At least he wasn’t asking them for advice on global politics
Given the concerns about the conflict between Israel and Iran boiling over into a wider war in the region, reporters were keen to press Trump for a clearer answer than ‘I may do it, I may not’ when it comes to a decision on launching strikes on Iranian nuclear targets.
Trump used the moment to air out his dirty laundry with conservative commenter Tucker Carlson, before saying there was ‘no way’ that Iran could be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
“You may have to fight,” Trump told reporters. “And maybe it’ll end very quickly but there’s no way you can allow, whether you have to fight or not, Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
“Because the entire world would blow up, [I’m] not going to let that happen.”
Now I think it’s pretty safe to assume the players squad never imagined they’d be standing awkwardly behind a US president while he casually weighed up the idea of entering America into another war.
The group weren’t the only ones left looking a little confused by the whole situation, with viewers at home unable to believe their eyes either.
“As a fan of Juventus since decades ago, never crossed in my mind that this exact combo would happen even in the next century,” one X user said in response to the moment, as a second added: “Their faces say it all.”
The Juventus squad looked thrilled to be there
“Why tf are juventus even there? lol,” a third person questioned.
“Kids are going to open up American history books in the future and wonder what the f**k Vlahovic and Chiellini are doing in a Trump nuclear war broadcast,” joked a fourth.
Who knows, maybe Trump will announce his plans to run for a third time during the Superbowl or invite the LA Lakers in to mediate a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire with Vladimir Putin.
