Blake Harrison Left Viewers In Stitches During National Anthem On Soccer Aid

The pre-match national anthem is an important part of a major international football match.

It's when players proudly remind themselves of the great honour that has been bestowed upon them and rally together ahead of the imminent clash.

But Soccer Aid isn't a serious match - hence Blake Harrison was on the pitch for the charitable fixture in 2018.

Keen to bring a bit of levity to the pre-match ritual, the Inbetweeners actor decided to pull a huge grin as the camera panned across the straight faces of his teammates.

A huge grin in itself would be mildly amusing, but the way in which he held it, as if frozen in space and time, was truly superb.

Relive the joyous moment here:

The 36-year-old clearly had an idea, and he executed it perfectly.

It was Harrison, though, who ended up having the last laugh, bagging the winning penalty at Old Trafford.

Watch here:

The 10th anniversary of the charitable football match - which raises money for Unicef - will take place at Manchester City's Eithad Stadium today (Saturday 4 September), with kick off scheduled for 7.30pm.

The match will feature the likes of former Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt, television presenter and comedian Paddy McGuinness, and former footballers Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville, Roberto Carlos and Jamie Redknapp.

There will also be appearances from the likes of Paul Scholes, Kelly Smith, Patrice Evra, David James and Emile Heskey.

Micah Richards joins the England coaching team with David Seaman as goalkeeping coach, while Harry Redknapp returns to manage the Soccer Aid World XI FC.

PA

Richards was typically enthusiastic about taking part.

He said: "Usain Bolt running at Gary Neville? Rooney out of retirement? Me making my coaching debut. What more do you want? This is going to be so good.

"I can't wait to see all the lads run out at the Etihad for such a great cause. The line-up is looking really strong and let me tell you - there are even more surprises to come."

Neville seemed less excited, though.

He said: "Just when I thought my days of being booed by City fans had passed.

"I'm hoping that my hamstrings hold out for more than five minutes, to be honest."

You can watch the match on ITV.

Topics: SPORT, TV and Film, Football, Funny, the inbetweeners

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey