Perhaps proving those electronic advertising hoardings at sporting events are are becoming a little too lifelike comes this Christmas gem from Wednesday.

It happened in a German Football Association match between Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig.

Bayern star Thiago Alcantara was eyeing up a move when he saw – what he presumed to be – a team mate racing down the sideline out of the corner of his eye. After all, the chap was in Bayern’s red strip and was heading towards the goal.

Sadly for Alcantara it was, in fact, a digitised Santa Claus on the electronic ad hoarding for an Allianz insurance ad. Check out the stuff up here.

However, the night was far from a lost cause for Alcantara who scored the opening goal, while Munich went on to win the match 3-0.