London - Most football teams would be glad to have a rock star cheering them on from the stands - but not if that star is Mick Jagger.
The Rolling Stone has been accused of ‘jinxing’ Brazil by taking his son to watch the team’s 7-1 drubbing by Germany.
The nation was paralysed with shock by the most dramatic defeat in World Cup history and there were outbreaks of violence after the final whistle.
Angry supporters set 12 buses alight in Sao Paulo, armed officers were sent to disperse crowds on Copacabana beach and fights broke out between Brazilian and German fans.
The Brazilians - who have won the World Cup five times - were desperate to find someone to blame for their humiliation. So they turned on Jagger, 70, who was in a VIP box at Belo Horizonte’s Mineirao stadium with Lucas, 15 - the child of his affair with a Brazilian model.
Fans already believed he only had to announce his support for a team to make it lose.
He has been nicknamed ‘pe frio’ - the jinx - by the Brazilian media after he backed a string of losing causes during the World Cup. Earlier, the singer found himself accused of causing Italy’s premature exit after he confidently announced they would beat Uruguay during a concert in Rome.
They were beaten 1-0 and eliminated from the group stages. He then told fans in Lisbon that Portugal would win the Cup. The team failed to progress to the knockout stages after coming third in their group.
Some have even blamed the veteran rocker for England’s early exit. He Tweeted messages of support for the England squad before their disastrous losses to Italy and Uruguay.
Before Brazil’s semi-final defeat, some fans tried to avert disaster by holding up placards urging Sir Mick to support Germany instead.
They no doubt remembered the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when the Brazilian media claimed their team lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals because Jagger wore a Brazil shirt to the game.
Despite donning an England cap this time, his allegiance to the home team was clear. Lucas wore a signed Brazil strip and the pair were seated next to the agent who represents many of Brazil’s top players.
Following the defeat, the news network R7 ran a large photo of Jagger in the stands and declared he was ‘the biggest jinx in history’.
He was hit with a barrage of Twitter abuse, but Lucas’s mother Luciana Giminez - who met the Stones frontman at a gig in Rio de Janiero in 1998 - leapt to his defence, accusing them of ‘cyber bullying’.
In an impassioned online post, the 43-year-old presenter - who was responsible for his divorce from Jerry Hall - said: ‘Mick has been successful for 50 years, he’s a good friend and GOOD FATHER to my 15-year-old son.
‘Even though it only seems like a small thing, Mick is a person like us all, and he does not deserve to be treated this way by Brazilians.’
Daily Mail