Chinese rapping star and influential YouTuber among AC Milan followers in Hong Kong, while Liverpool trailed by three fan channels

The days of football clubs travelling abroad accompanied only by a familiar press pack have been consigned to history.

And it is not just the extra TV cameras, pundits, worldwide media and club legends – a term liberally applied in some cases – that jump on the travelling bandwagon.

No, space these days is found for YouTubers, fan channels, bloggers and, in the case of AC Milan, a Chinese rapper.

Simba Siiviba, who boasts almost 800,000 followers on mainland social media platform Weibo, routinely incorporates AC Milan into his lyrics. One of his songs, El Capitano, was written in tribute to ex-Milan skipper Massimo Ambrosini.