Sir Elton John made a cheeky stop off to see the Manchester City team while he was up north for a gig on Saturday night.
The Tiny Dancer singer wore a Gucci tracksuit as he greeted the players on their home turf following their FA Cup triumph over Manchester United at Wembley over the weekend.
Posting a snap with the team and manager Pep Guardiola on his Instagram account, the 76-year-old told his 4.5 million followers: “Look who I ran into at Manchester Airport!!
“Congratulations on an incredible double. Fingers crossed for the treble @mancity.”
Over on the Manchester City’s TikTok page, they shared a video of Elton hugging the players as they stepped off the plane.
But he seemed to already know one of the players pretty well, suggesting they could be unlikely pals.
Elton held his hands out as star player Phil Foden exclaimed: “Hey, how are you?” before the pair shook hands and went in for a huge hug.
The 23-year-old midfielder then pulled his phone out so he could snap a cheeky selfie with Elton.
Posting the snap on his own Instagram later, Phil – who has 4 million more followers than Elton – wrote: “@eltonjohn Legend.”
But some fans were confused as Elton has always been a Watford FC and loved them so much he bought the club in 1976, later becoming chairman and president.
Watford are now in the Championship and although Elton is no longer the owner – selling in 1990 to focus on his personal life – he described the day they named a stand after him as “one of the greatest days of my life”.
One fan asked: “Thought you were a Watford fan” to which another joked: “Don’t worry mate, apparently he head-butted Pep after this photo was taken," – although there is no suggestion this joking action took place.
A third said: “Imagine to win the FA Cup and then meet Elton? What a day!”
“Officially Elton is Manchester City’s biggest fan,” a fourth chimed in. While a fifth said: “Phil was the only one confident enough to ask for a photo. I love that.”
Earlier on that night, Elton was playing his third gig at Manchester’s AO Arena as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola is a huge Elton fan and was in the audience for the show on Wednesday night.
He has previously spoken about how his favourite Elton’s hit is ‘Your Song’ and told BBC Sport he dreamed of watching him live.
In a 2018 interview, Pep said: “One of my dreams, before I leave this country, is to see a concert by Elton John...
“I’m pretty sure Elton John is not going to listen to this interview because he has more interesting things to do.
“I met him when he played Watford last season, the last game and it was a huge please. Hopefully, he can organise a concert, please. I will be there.”
Also spotted at one of Elton’s gigs this week were good friends David and Victoria Beckham and their 11-year-old daughter Harper.
Posting a sweet video of them singing along, David wrote: “I simply love you, more than I love life itself @eltonjohn. Final time in London THANK YOU WE LOVE YOU.”
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