Cristiano Ronaldo And Harry Maguire Were Most Abused EPL Players On Twitter Last Season
A study has found that Cristiano Ronaldo was abused on Twitter more than any other Premier League player last season.
The report was published by Ofcom, a UK regulatory body for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries.
It analyzed a sample of 2.3 million tweets during the first half of the 2021/22 season, finding almost 60,000 posts that aimed abuse at players.
The sample only included tweets in which a player was directly tagged.
According to the study, abuse affected 70% of EPL players, but almost half of the abusive tweets found were directed at the 12 players listed below:
| Player | Number of abusive tweets received |
|---|---|
Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd) | 12,520 |
Harry Maguire (Man Utd) | 8,954 |
Marcus Rashford (Man Utd) | 2,557 |
Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd) | 2,464 |
Harry Kane (Tottenham) | 2,127 |
Fred (Man Utd) | 1,924 |
Jesse Lingard (Man Utd*) | 1,605 |
Jack Grealish (Man City) | 1,538 |
Paul Pogba (Man Utd*) | 1,446 |
David de Gea (Man Utd) | 1,394 |
Manchester United teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford pictured in 2021
IMAGO/Sebastian Frej
The day that saw Ronaldo sent more abuse than any other was August 27, 2021, when Manchester United announced that he had rejoined the club from Juventus.
Ronaldo received 188,769 tweets on that day, of which 3,961 were abusive.
United captain Maguire's biggest day in terms of abuse received came on November 7, 2021, after he tweeted an apology following his side's 2-0 loss to Manchester City.
He was abused in 2,903 tweets after writing: "As a group of players we are going through a tough period. We know and accept this is nowhere near good enough. We feel your frustration and disappointment, we are doing everything we can to put things right and we will put things right. Thanks for your support".