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16th February 2012
12:22pm GMT
After what was arguably the second most controversial handshake snub of last weekend's Premier League action, Aston Villa have leapt to the defence of their pint-sized mascot.
A day after Luis Suarez refused to shake the hand of Patrice Evra in last Saturday's tense clash between Manchester United and Liverpool, it appeared as though the event had an effect on one impressionable youngster - Aston Villa's mascot for their Sunday defeat to Manchester City.
As seen above, the mascot - who presumably got to stay up late the night before to watch Match of the Day - refused to shake the hand of his Manchester City rival, while the footage itself went viral hours later.
However, Villa have since issued a statement to The Sun and explained that the mascot had meant no ill will towards his City rival.
"The Club has spoken to both boys' families and they have both confirmed that there was no unpleasant intent in the missed handshake," said a Villa spokesperson.
"Both boys are seven years old, one of them was a Barclays mascot. They interacted happily both before and after the missed handshake, which resulted simply from them being overawed by the occasion, the noise level from the crowd and the experience of being in the presence of their heroes."
Clearly, Villa are going into PR overdrive to remove themselves from any mass apologies to the world's press, similar to those released by Liverpool on Monday. We'll be watching Villa's next mascot encounter very, very closely this weekend.
