Joining Johann Cruyff, Zinedine Zidane, Wayne Rooney and Maradona on the list of footballers partial to a cigarette is Real Madrid’s Mesut Özil.

While catching some rays on a super-fun-party-yacht in Ibiza during the summer break,  the German midfielder was spotted hitting up the cancer sticks with a group of friends. Tsk.

When confronted by German tabloid Bild, Özil quickly went and cleaned his teeth for the fourth time, then made his excuses:

“I was on a yacht on vacation and didn’t notice I was being photographed.

“It was because I lost a bet and therefore only a one-time thing. I assure you: I do not smoke.”

His friends bet him that he wouldn’t smoke a cigarette? Are they all eleven years old or something? One would have thought someone with the ability to disappear could have covered this up a little better.

And another thing – why is a millionaire Madrid footballer surrounded by so many men on his private yacht? Teammate Cristiano Ronaldo would be absolutely disgusted by this bro-to-ho ratio.