'When your doppelganger is a TOMATO': NBA legend Larry Bird trends on Twitter after fans find FRUIT that looks like Celtics hero

Legendary basketball player Larry Bird has become an unwitting social media sensation after a tomato with an uncanny resemblance to him was spotted by fans, carrying off his facial features and dubbed "the tomato of confusion".

A Twitter joker pointed out the tomato, which appeared to have a nose, two eyes and a downward-sloping mouth made by a crevice in its skin, and added a small bowler hat before holding it up in front of a garden.

The fun had only just begun as quick-witted followers spotted that the expression the fruit appeared to be wearing made it a lookalike for three-time NBA champion Bird, who shared the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award with Magic Johnson last year.

Impromptu artists duly superimposed various photos of the 6ft 9in 63-year-old with the tomato, adding that they were grateful to see his name trending for humorous rather than grave reasons.

As more than 13,000 tweets made the trending tomato one of the most talked-about topics on social media, one fan replied: "Some things cannot be unseen.

"You’re so right. That’s definitely Larry Bird."

Another said: "This explains how when the Celtics were down, Larry Bird would help them ketchup. Sorry, nobody else was going for condiment jokes."

Others made references to the 2010 documentary, 'Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals', telling the story of the rivalry between Boston Celtics forward Bird and Los Angeles Lakers point guard Johnson during the mid-1980s.

One Bird admirer who appeared to have also seen him in a pepper also affectionately told him: "I was born in Massachusetts and heard your name often among Celtics fans.

"I had no idea you looked like a red bell pepper. My food never looks like you.

"Thank you for being edible and not something to mourn. You are loved."