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          Ghouls scoring goals: What soccer stars did for Halloween

          • Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerNov 1, 2023, 06:10 PM

          With the spooktastic season upon us once again, footballers and their clubs once again decided to celebrate with a variety of suitably chilling Halloween messages, pranks and photos shared across social media.

          Some donned ghoulish fancy dress garb and posed for photos, some were subjected to spine-tingling challenges and some players just decided to press ahead and scare the living daylights out of their teammates.

          While plenty of stars were dressing up for Halloween, one legendary player was the subject of a costume himself, as worn by one of the biggest action movie heroes in Hollywood.

          Who could that be referring to? Read on to find out -- if you dare...

          - Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.).

          The Rock as David Beckham

          Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson celebrated the holiday by becoming David Beckham -- or, as the action movie star put it on Instagram, the "265lb Bla-Moan Beckham."

          Wearing a Manchester United jersey and a long blond wig in the style of the former England captain's hair during his time at Real Madrid, Johnson showed off his neat ball control skills as he revealed his outfit on social media.

          The ensemble even got the approval of Beckham himself, who replied: "I mean I thought I was looking in the mirror! Looking good man you might need a bigger jersey."

          Manchester City

          City laid on a gruesome task for Rúben Dias, Matheus Nunes, Bernardo Silva and Kalvin Phillips by challenging the quartet to discern the small, round, mushy objects hidden inside a box.

          Oddly it was rough, tough centre-back Dias who seemed to struggle and flinch the most once faced with the truly horrifying prospect of attempting to identify a punnet of peeled grapes.

          Aston Villa

          As if to undermine their fearless performance in the Premier League this season, Villa attempted to put the frighteners on their entire squad by having Álex Moreno dressed up as a scary clown and loiter at the entrance to the club's training ground.

          Tottenham Hotspur

          Spurs laid on a little Halloween magic masterclass for players Pape Matar Sarr and Guglielmo Vicario, who both seemed to be firmly impressed by the sleight of hand on display.

          Bayern Munich

          Bayern wished their fans a very happy Halloween by dressing up young starlet Jamal Musiala as a certain boy wizard.

          Paris Saint-Germain

          Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain upped the ante with the return of a classic Halloween prank though this time the tables were turned as players including Presnel Kimpembe, Milan Skriniar and Gianluigi Donnarumma leaped out of the shadows to pounce upon unsuspecting members of club staff.

          Juventus

          Juventus fully embraced the Halloween spirit with a haunted house-themed short posted on Instagram that saw a succession of their players reimagined as various ghouls, vampires and werewolves.

          The Bianconeri then went one step further by having a couple of mystery stars turn up to their training centre dressed in grizzly fancy dress and challenged fans to spot the players behind the masks.

          AC Milan

          Milan called upon the dark lord himself to help wish a very devilish Halloween to all of their fans around the world.

          Inter Milan

          Meanwhile, rivals Inter Milan also took a fairly low-effort approach to the festivities by sharing a batch of photoshopped images of their players in creepy "nocturnal" mode.

          Houston Dynamo

          Dynamo had a bit of seasonal fun ahead of the playoffs as players came into work in full Halloween fancy dress with an array of brilliant costumes including Shaggy (of "Scooby-Doo" fame), Thor, the Men in Black and even a walking, talking glass of beer.

          FC Cincinnati

          Cincinnati had fun too with almost every member of their squad posing for a photo in their chosen Halloween garb though the whole show was stolen by defender Nick Hagglund and his impressive rendition of Mojo Dojo Casa House-style Ken.

          Robert Taylor

          Inter Miami CF midfielder Robert Taylor went for the slightly unusual option of dressing up as Yassine Cheuko, who is otherwise known as Lionel Messi's personal bodyguard.

          PSV Eindhoven

          Special mention must go to the PSV fan who mischievously ran around the Dutch club's stadium during their recent game against Ajax while dressed as the "ghost of relegation" that is currently haunting ailing Eredivisie rivals.