MEDIA FALLS FOR PALACIO PRANK

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2542758,00.html
The international media has been tricked by a group of Boca Juniors fans in a scheme cooked up on a internet blog.

In scenes reminiscent of 2005's 'Chris Musampa' hoax - which made its way onto the pages of the Daily Mirror, and eventually Match Of The Day, journalists have been caught out by am apparently entirely fictional story.

Boca supporters spammed various Arsenal forums with rumours that the Gunners were interested in Argentinian Rodrigo Palacio, a striker who has scored 39 goals in 79 appearances for Boca and has won five caps for his country.

'Palacio, 25, will fly into London tomorrow after Boca accepted the Gunners' offer' announced the Daily Telegraph, who along with The Independent published the story on Tuesday. They were far from alone - the BBC, the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail all ran the news.

The Sun were amongst the hardest stung within the British media, announcing on Monday that 'all obstacles have been removed after Arsenal came in with a record-breaking offer.'

By Tuesday morning, the story had been repeated in newspapers as far afield as Argentina, Japan and Spain.