UEFA slammed for doctored footage of German fan's tears during Euro SF loss to Italy

London, July 5(ANI): A doctored footage, produced and distributed by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), in which a German fan could be seen with tears in eyes after Mario Balotelli scored Italy's second goal during their semi-final clash against Germany, has caused huge uproar.

European football's governing body has come under heavy fire for faking the TV coverage.

However, it has been revealed that the video of the fan crying was taken much earlier during Germany's national anthem, and was inserted it into crowd footage just after Italy's second goal.

The UEFA footage was broadcast around the world, including to the BBC and ITV's coverage of the game.

Crying fan Andrea from Dusseldorf was shocked when she started getting texts from friends in Germany, asking her why she was crying with almost an hour of the game left.

UEFA has defended its stance by saying that the footage wasn't used to mislead people.

"In order not to mislead the audience, the director used replay wipes before and after, showing clearly that this event was not live," The Daily Mail quoted UEFA, as saying.

However, this did not appease the German network, angry at an image of national pride being merged into live footage.

"We are surprised and irritated. These pictures aren't acceptable for us, especially since we spoke to UEFA about this problem a few days ago. We're now looking for further talks," Joerg Schoenenborn, of ARD said. (ANI)