Europa League draw: Ashley Cole struggles with pronunciations
Former Arsenal and Chelsea defender Ashley Cole became a figure of fun on social media after struggling through Friday’s Europa League draw.
Cole was tasked with reading out the teams from pot 1 and pot 3 but found it difficult to get his words out when some of the more difficult names were pulled out of the hat.
The 34-year-old recently retired from playing and is busy carving out a career in TV.
Sevilla were the first team out of the hat in Monaco but Cole used the English pronunciation of ‘Seville’ rather than the traditional Spanish one.
FC Basel also proved difficult as he appeared to say ‘FC Basil’ and Espanyol came out as ‘Espana’.
Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir was the one that stumped him most and, in his defence, I am yet to figure out the correct pronunciation myself.
He was also able to see the funny side as he was seen laughing on TV.
Even so, fans took to Twitter in their droves to have a bit of a laugh at his expense.
Ashley Cole struggled through the Europa League draw (Image: TWITTER)
Cole was a good sport and able to see the funny side of his mishaps (Image: GETTY)
“Ashley Cole’s pronunciations are the best thing about this draw,” one fan wrote.
“Ashley Cole murdering every single teams name,” added another.
A third agreed: “Ashley Cole is having a mare.”
Another added: “Ashley Cole reading these teams is brilliant.”
“Ashley Cole has got about 4 pronunciations right here. Just called Espanyol 'Espana’,” a fifth noted.
Another said: “Ashley Cole: ESPANA. Love this guy man. Espanyol!”
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