Rio Ferdinand taunted by former Aston Villa star as war of words reignited

Rio Ferdinand was mocked by former Aston Villa defender Ahmed Elmohamady after Manchester United's thumping defeat to Crystal Palace on Monday night. The Red Devils were on the receiving end of a 4-0 loss at Selhurst Park in one of their worst results of the entire season.

Earlier this year, Ferdinand poked fun at Villa after they were beaten by United, who closed the gap on the top four to six points with a 2-1 victory. The former England defender posted an image of Douglas Luiz performing a knee slide in front of United players and tagged the midfielder on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the caption: "You ok @dgoficial?"

Ferdinand's decision to mock Villa came back to bite him on Tuesday as Elmohamady took aim at the United legend with a cheeky post of his own. He quoted Ferdinand's earlier post and added his own caption, which read: "You ok big man?"

United's defeat to Palace saw them remain 13 points adrift of Villa, who sit fourth in the Premier League table with just two games left to play. The Red Devils have slipped away from the top-four battle after winning just one of their last six matches and can finish no higher than fifth, meaning they will not be playing Champions League football next season.

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Ferdinand was also involved in a spat with Piers Morgan after United's game at Selhurst Park, with the pair taking shots at each other on social media. Morgan got the ball rolling after Palace had scored their fourth, tagging Ferdinand in a post which read: "Hi mate, @rioferdy5 - you OK? #Tears4Rio."

It did not take long for Ferdinand to hit back at Morgan with a brutal reply, posting: "Hey #moobs I'm behind the sofa. Make sure ya tuck them moobs in ya long johns while jumping around and gloating over our embarrassing performance tho."

United have suffered a number of humiliating losses in the Premier League this season and Erik ten Hag was left particularly furious at the manner of their defeat to Palace.

Asked if it was the worst result of his two-year reign at United, Ten Hag said: "Yes. Our worst defeat. We should have kept fighting like the fans did. It's clear, this is underperforming. It’s by far not good enough. We are very disappointed. It’s a deserved defeat.

"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was by far not good enough and I have to take responsibility for that."