Remember those laser pens that came into fashion about ten years ago and were subsequently banned from football stadiums because ne'er-do-wells were disrupting matches by shining them into players eyes? Well, now there's an even more hi-tech way to cause a nuisance of yourself at a football match.
In what is quite possibly the most 21st century match disruption we've ever heard of, Liverpool's friendly with Huddersfield was briefly delayed this evening because someone decided it would be a good idea to fly a drone onto the pitch just after the hour mark.
And, as you can see from the video below, Jurgen Klopp was not best pleased.
https://youtu.be/QH6cMAVHm9s
We've heard of match disruptions for the unwelcome addition of pitch invaders, flares and floodlight failures but this is a new one -- and we can imagine this become more and more of a thing in football in this upcoming season.
Still, the drone made more of an impression at this Liverpool match than Mario Balotelli did in his entire Anfield career.
21,266 here to see Liverpool win 2-0, a missed pen, drone stops play, and 18 year old keeper making debut- as a striker. 😳
— Fraser Dainton🥊🏉🎤📺🦏 (@FraserDainton) July 20, 2016
Business as usual at Liverpool, then.