Malta captain Michael Mifsud was in stitches when Linkin Park's Numb was played instead of the Maltese national anthem ahead of their friendly clash against Slovakia.
On Thursday night, singer Ellynora apologised to fans after a technical fault meant she stumbled over the lyrics to England's 'God Save The King' ahead of their Euro 2024 qualifying win over Italy.
“I’m just so angry with what happened because I wanted it to be perfect but what happened wasn’t my fault,” Ellynora said.
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“I want to say sorry to all the England fans who were at the stadium and watching on TV, I’m mortified for what happened and I want people to know that I wasn’t being disrespectful."
With the unfortunate rendition from the 28-year-old singer going viral on social media, another iconic national anthem fail emerged from the depths of international football folklore.
Back in early September 2014, ahead of Malta's friendly against Slovakia, the stadium announcer inside the Stadion pod Dubnom accidentally played the intro to one of Linkin Park's greatest songs.
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As the Malta squad prepared to sing their national anthem, the likes of Steve Borg, Rowen Muscat and Andrew Hogg were taken aback when Numb started playing over the loudspeaker.
For approximately 0.7 seconds, The Hymn of Malta was replaced by the unmistakable sound of an iconic 2003 track.
It didn't take long for the announcer to fix the issue but captain Michael Mifsud, a player with 143 international caps to his name, could not stop chuckling as he stood next to his teammates.
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Malta went on to lose that game 1-0 after a 43rd minute strike from Adam Nemec, but it was that memorable start to proceedings in Slovakia that grabbed the headlines.
Nine years on and the clip has once again gone viral on Twitter.
One fan commented on the video, saying: "Shame there was no Encore," while another wrote: "Can't fault the stadium DJ - they know what the people want to hear."
A third said: "Disregard everything ever said, this is the greatest moment in sports history."
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A fourth added: "I would also blare Linkin Park on stadium speakers given the opportunity."
Topics: Football
Jack Kenmare