Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire most abused Premier League footballers on Twitter - Report

Manchester United stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire were the most abused Premier League players on Twitter during the first five months of last season. The United duo were on the receiving end of thousands of abusive tweets over their performances among others on the micro-blogging site.

As per a study conducted by communications regulator Ofcom, close to 60,000 abusive tweets were detected on Twitter for English top-flight footballers. Manchester United, who have one of the largest fan bases in the Premier League and are England's most successful club, have as many as 8 players in the top ten most abused footballers in the league last season.

Ofcom analysed over two million tweets during their study and came across around 60,000 tweets that directed abuse towards the Premier League stars. While Ronaldo, a global icon, is by far the most abused player on the list, Maguire is a close second on the list. Their teammates Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes are in the third and fourth spot respectively.

Ronaldo received a staggering 12,520 abusive messages from the overall 60,000 tweets flagged by Ofcom. Maguire, on the other hand, had 8,954 tweets abusing him on Twitter. The study exposes the dark side of football where players are subjected to not just unwarranted criticism but also horrific abuse on social media.

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The 60,000 tweets which were analysed were from the period between August 13, 2021 and January 24, 2022. Tottenham Hotspurs striker Harry Kane at number 5 and Manchester City's Jack Grealish at number 8 are the only two non-Manchester United players who are part of the list.

Most abused Premier League players last season:

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

12,520

Harry Maguire (Manchester United)

8,954

Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

2,557

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

2,464

Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

2,127

Fred (Manchester United)

1,924

Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)

1,605

Jack Grealish (Manchester City)

1,538

Paul Pogba (Manchester United)
1,446

David de Gea (Manchester United)

1,394

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While Ronaldo, Maguire, Rashford, Fred, Fernandes and De Gea are still part of the Manchester United squad, Pogba and Lingard left the club earlier this summer. As per the study conducted by Ofcom, two major spikes in abusive tweets were noted for Ronaldo and Maguire on two separate occasions.

There was a huge spike in abuse for Ronaldo when it was officially announced that he will be returning to United from Juventus last summer. In Maguire's case, there was a major spike on November 7 when the Manchester United captain had apologised on Twitter following the club's 2-0 loss to arch-rivals Manchester City in the league.