On Thursday night Portuguese side Braga travelled to the Stade Velodrome to face Marseille in the Europa League.
Braga were sitting pretty at the top of Group F with a perfect 100% record after three games heading into the match and would have fancied their chances against the struggling French side.
However their preparations were severely disrupted when they realised that someone had stolen their entire collection of boots less than 24 hours before their 6pm kick off in France.
Braga allegedly looked to have the game postponed as sponsorship deals meant certain players had to wear certain boots and the Portuguese side were worried about getting replacements in time.
Marseille offered to charter a plane to Portugal in order to get replacements but there wasn't enough time.
The French giants eventually stumped up 46 new pairs of boots shortly before kick off but the incident clearly affected Braga as they lost the game 1-0.
Braga officials were left simply dumbfounded by the incident. Coach Paul Fonseca told L'Equipe
I thought I'd seen everything in football but that disrupted our preparation. It's astonishing because there are cameras and security guards to guarantee security.
Club president Antonio Salvador Rodrigues echoed Fonseca's opinion.
I find that incredible, no door was forced open so how did the boots go missing?
A formal investigation is now under way to find the mysterious boot bandit.
Awkward - Braga have reported that their sports equipment (boots) were stolen at Stade Vélodrome last night ahead of tonight's game
— 🇬🇧 MarseilleUK (@MarseilleUK) November 5, 2015
