AC Milan ace Michael Essien bizarrely found himself at the centre of a cruel hoax after a report surfaced that the Ghanaian midfielder had contracted Ebola.
Online Nigerian newspaper, NewsWireNGR, were seemingly duped by tweets from Twitter user @YuryAlkaev – who claims to be a sports journalist – reporting that AC Milan had confirmed that Essien had caught the killer disease.
However, after the story started to create a stir on social media, AC Milan sources quickly moved to scotch the claims, insisting any reports are fake and that no interviews had been given to Nigerian media.
Essien later took to Twitter to deny he has contracted the deadly disease.
No truth in internet rumours that I have contracted Ebola.i m very well & I'm doing very gud & will be training as usual tomorrow.#falsenews
— Michael Essien (@MichaelEssien) October 12, 2014
Below are the original tweets by @YuryAlkaev, which sparked the outpouring of emotion on Twitter for Essien.
Breaking news: Ghana international and AC Milan star Michael Essien has contracted Ebola, his club has confirmed.
— ???? ?????? (@YuryAlkaev) October 12, 2014
AC Milan spokesman Riccardo Coli says "It has come to a big shock to everyone involved with the club but we are optimistic for Essien..."
— ???? ?????? (@YuryAlkaev) October 12, 2014
"he is a very strong person and the Ebola has been caught in the early stages. He's in experts hands so he should be fine". #Essien
— ???? ?????? (@YuryAlkaev) October 12, 2014