Facebook has hidden a Euro 2016 “keepy-uppy” football game in Messenger – here’s how to play it

Some people show how much they care about the results of Euro 2016 by clobbering other footie fans with bottles and chairs.

But if you're a Facebook fan, there's a much safer way of demonstrating your all-consuming passion for the beautiful game.

The social network has hidden a secret football game within its Messenger communications app - and we've found out how to access it.

All you need to do is fire up Messenger and then click on a football emoji.

Tech fans refer to as an "easter egg", but football fans will probably call Facebook's surprisingly tricky game keepy-uppy.

Players have to tap on the ball to send it flying up the screen, before then pressing it again and again to keep the orb flying in the air.

The ball bounces around the screen realistically and anyone who manages to keep the ball in the air 10 times in a row will have to cope with various tricks designed to make the game more difficult.

This smartphone game has much of the tension of real life keepy-uppy, but little of the fitness-boosting health benefits (unless your fingers really need to lose some weight).

Facebook's beautiful game is it's introduced over the years.

To celebrate Talk Like A Pirate Day, the social network introduced a new language option called "pirate English".