Who is behind the mask?

Who is behind the mask?

A certain Blaugrana legend joins training session disguised as Betfair competition winner

Can you recognise a certain Barça legend in disguise?

On Sunday, 15 January the former Barça player in question appeared at an FC Barcelona training session along with the official Club sponsor Betfair to surprise a group of superfans who had been selected out of thousands of entrants from around the world as part of the company's #MagicOfBarça campaign, which aims to build anticipation and excitement in line with Betfair’s ‘Ready?’ brand positioning through a series of strategic partnerships, pioneering collaborations, blockbuster content and memorable fan experiences.

The fans, however, were unaware that there was a masked man among them, posing under the pseudonym Roberto Da Silva, waiting to deliver the surprise of a lifetime.

The man in disguise participated in the famous FC Barcelona ‘Rondo’ training session drill alongside the winners. The session culminated in an 11 a-side game for which the man, who had been cleverly playing down his elite skills in the training session, came on as a sub for the losing team and unleashed some much needed star quality and single-handedly clawed back a victory with his bag of tricks, turns and magical touch.

When da Silva was named the MVP of the game, he proceded to pull off his fake hair, beard and nose, thus revealing his true identity — it was Rivaldo! — leaving the FC Barcelona fans in utter awe of the magic they had just witnessed.

Rivaldo, the 1999 Ballon d’Or winner, FC Barcelona legend, and Betfair’s ‘Undercover Ringer’, said: “Taking part in Betfair’s MagicOfBarça experience was great fun, I have never done anything like that before!"

"There were a couple of moments when I thought people suspected I was someone else," he said. "But when I saw the fans surprised faces at the end of the match I knew we pulled it off. I loved being back playing on the pitch in Barca, even if it wasn’t my best performance of my career!”

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