Was Marouane Fellaini’s seven minute appearance for Manchester United the worst of all time?

While Man United’s lethargic performance in their 2-0 defeat to Tottenham at Wembley on Wednesday night caught all the headlines, there was also a curious sideshow as Marouane Fellaini was hauled off the field moments after coming in as a sub in place of Paul Pogba.

In his brief stint on the field, the Belgian barely touched the ball and had no impact in wrestling the initiative as the home side continued dominating the midfield in what was a rather underwhelming performance all round by the Red Devils.

According to manager Jose Mourinho, it seems as if Fellaini spent six and a half minutes more on the field than he should have as he confirmed that, within 30 seconds of him coming on, he once again succumbed to what has become a problematic knee which has kept him out of action for a huge chunk of the season.

There have been other peculiar substitutions in the world of football with some of the game’s biggest names experiencing brief stints on the field even on the biggest stage and we’ve compiled a list of some of the most notable.

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Aaron Lennon – England v Portugal, FIFA World Cup 2006 quarter-final

This particular clash remains infamous for the confrontation between then-teammates at United Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney which saw the latter get sent off.

Prior to that, a teenage Aaron Lennon had been subbed in following an injury to superstar David Beckham early in the second half. As England were a man short it forced a tactical sub as Jamie Carragher was brought in for the youngster mere minutes after he had taken the field.

The veteran Liverpool defender would make headlines later as he missed the spot kick which saw Portugal go through to the semi-finals via a penalty shootout.

Nemanja Matic – Chelsea v Southampton, EPL 2015/16

Back when the Man United duo was still at Chelsea, Nemanja Matic was on the wrong end of one of Mou’s peculiar substitutions.

The Serb was brought on for Brazilian Ramires in the blues’ home fixture against Southampton and, in a few moments, the Saints had opened up a two goal lead with the scoreline 3-1 in their favour.

The Portuguese manager clearly rued his decision to bring Matic on as he hauled him off within 28 minutes of bringing him on. The score would remain 3-1 as Chelsea staged a rather pathetic defence of the league title.

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Theo Walcott – Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal, Capital One Cup 2015/16

This one was forced by injury as within 19 minutes of kick off, Arsene Wenger had made two substitutions in the same position.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain went down injured in the first five minutes and was replaced by Theo Walcott lasted just 14 minutes, going down clutching his calf. Ismael Bennacer played out the rest of the game as Arsenal went down 3-0 to The Owls.

Juan Mata – Manchester United v Leicester City, Community Shield 2016

In Mourinho’s first competitive game at United, the Community Shield clash against Leicester, he made a rather strange substitution as Juan Mata was hauled off just minutes after entering the field in the second half.

Even more peculiar was the Portuguese manager’s reasoning for the sub – Mata was simply too short. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the man brought on and he was no aerial threat either.

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