German soccer team pretends manager is in photo by putting mask on imposter

This is one of the strangest things we’ve seen in a long time, and honestly, we don’t have a good explanation. FC St. Pauli completed a transfer that brought them Marvin Ducksch, a 22-year-old striker who played for Borussia Dortmund. That’s exciting. It’s a big deal. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect the team’s manager to be there for.

But he wasn’t.

St. Pauli manager Ewald Lienen is not in the photo. The man on the left is wearing a crudely printed mask of the manager. No wonder Ducksch looks like someone just spoiled the last episode of Game of Thrones.

It took almost no time before the Internet realized what was happening. Caught red-handed, St. Pauli tweeted an admission — kind of.

The single word they tweeted was “Unique!” which makes absolutely no sense. Why pretend Ewald was there in the first place? Why use a mask? How did Ducksch, who just left one of the biggest clubs in Europe, feel about being greeted by a dude in a mask?

You know what. I’m going to ignore all the confusion. This is the best and St. Pauli is my new favorite team.

(h/t @BundesLlew)