Franck Ribery played the practical joker moments before smashing in a free-kick as the Bayern Munich forward cheekily untied the referee’s bootlace.
The Frenchman bent down to place the ball on the turf 25 yards from goal, before subtly reaching over and pulling a lace from female referee Bibiana Steinhaus’ boot.
Fortunately for the 34-year-old, Steinhaus saw the funny side, pretending to reprimand him with a slap on the back.
The good humour was also due to the fact that the incident occurred with Bayern 3-0 up in their DFB Cup first round tie against Chemnitzer.
Ribery then added a fourth directly after his mini practical joke, curling a powerful free-kick over the wall and out the the grasp of the goalkeeper.
Mats Hummels then rounded off the rout by scoring the fifth in a game dominated by the German champions.
Steinhaus took Ribery’s playful side in her stride and might be wary of repeat tricks when they next cross paths.
The 38-year-old official will become the first female referee in the Bundesliga this season and will have to cope with the intense scrutiny that entails.
Ribery might be tempted to play a few more practical jokes before taking free-kicks after his brilliant goal on Saturday.
