Even though Thomas Vermaelen did not play a single match or a single minute of European football in the previous season, the Belgium defender was still awarded with a Champions League medal.
Vermaelen was signed by Barcelona for a transfer fee of €15 million on August of 2014 but the defender still hasn’t proved his worth to the Spanish club as Vermaelen has been plagued with a number of injuries that have forced him to stay out of action for the majority of the season.
It doesn’t look like Barcelona has needed Vermaelen to be in form as the Spanish club has still managed to win all the major trophies that they competed on including: La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
Vermaelen did not an important role in Barcelona’s treble but the Belgium player was still given a taste of success as he received medals of the Copa del Rey, La Liga and Champions League and after searching around football websites, Vermaelen is recognized as a holder of these pieces of silverware despite being absent from almost all of them.
Michael Platini is the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and he played a joke on Thomas Vermaelen as he ordered the Belgium defender on giving back the Champions League medal.
This was nothing more than a simple joke which was elaborated by UEFA and it’s head official Platini. One appearance is everything that Vermaelen has made since joining Barcelona in August of 2014 and Platini was part of a prank which involved ordering the defender to give back his Champions medal which he received even before Luis Suarez and Neymar.