Exhausted Liverpool and Manchester United players have assembled at Anfield this morning to shoot the scenes needed for a highlights package of last night’s game.
In the early hours of the morning, as desperate TV producers looked through the existing footage of their Premier League encounter, it became clear that even with multiple gratuitous shots of Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho, the game’s highlights would only justify around 90 seconds of footage, rather than the expected 15 minutes.
In an unprecedented step, the two teams were told to present themselves at Anfield to shoot some pick-ups that would add a sense of drama to the match.
“When we got back from the shoot [the match], we realised that we had nothing in the can [filmed] that could create a story arc with a sense of jeopardy [an interesting football match],” a Sky Sports producer told FourFourTwo.
“It seems that neither side had read the script, which, to be honest, is completely unprofessional.
“We decided that the only thing we could do was get the teams to stage some scenes that flesh things out a little, because at the moment it’s just De Gea’s save from Coutinho at 91 different angles and Klopp pulling a face.”
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With a busy schedule ahead, both teams looked frustrated as they were asked to simulate an exciting game of football at 11am in an empty stadium.
“The game had to end 0-0, but we thought we could maybe add some shots on target, a few interesting through-balls and a love interest between Klopp and Mourinho,” said the producer.
“In the end most of what we filmed didn’t quite work, though, so we had to settle for Ibrahimovic doing a bit of a wry smile, Anthony Taylor waving away some half-hearted appeals for a penalty and a love interest between Mourinho and Mourinho.”
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