Before playing Barcelona, Roma have muted Twitter references to Malcom

Roma and Barcelona have been at loggerheads in recent weeks over the sale of Bordeaux winger Malcom to the Catalan club.

The 21-year-old joined for 42 million euros (£37.3 million) just a day after Roma said they had a deal of their own for the Brazilian – even leading the Italians to consider legal action.

So, with Roma set to play Barcelona in the International Champions Cup, Roma’s English language Twitter account spotted a golden opportunity for a joke about the situation.

With the upcoming fixture, they’ve muted notifications to all mentions of Malcom – a reasonable thing to do given the hurt surrounding the transfer for the club.

So close were they to adding Malcom to their ranks that they even created a musical mash-up for the transfer announcement.

A social media symphony sadly missed.

In any case, Roma’s joke went down well with the fans.

Some thought they could spot a way through Roma’s anti-Malcom defences though.

One of Roma’s players, Kostas Manolas, has spoken out about the Malcom transfer prior to Tuesday’s game.

According to Spanish newspaper Marca, the centre-back told reporters of the Brazilian: “I don’t know who he is, I don’t know him.

“Before he signed for Barcelona, even he didn’t know his name.

“There is no reason to say hello. He didn’t want to go to Roma, it is better that he goes to Barcelona.”