Caitlin Clark humbled by Eli Manning new career venture as WNBA superstar suffers embarrassing loss

WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark was sent tumbling back to earth after suffering a humbling defeat to Eli Manning.

Clark, 23, is the reigning Rookie of the Year in the WNBA.

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She had an impressive year with the Indiana Fever after making the step up from an illustrious career in college.

However, all her accolades were not enough to prevent her from being on the receiving end of an awkward defeat to former New York Giants quarterback Manning.

Clark and Manning, 44, met up in New Orleans during Super Bowl week to film an episode of The Eli Manning Show.

And while together the two-time Super Bowl winner challenged Clark to a game of Pop-A-Shot.

On paper the odds should have been in Clark’s favour considering she scored 90 per cent of her free throws last season.

However, before the match she played down her abilities by insisting she was bad at Pop-A-Shot.

And sure enough, it was actually Manning who came out on top.

Manning showed he was no slouch in front of a basketball hoop and ended up comfortably beating Clark by a score of 76–51.

Clark said during the game: “I told you, I’m bad at Pop-a-Shot.”

Meanwhile, Manning – who hit a high score on the arcade machine – admitted after the game he had been practising “a lot”.

During the episode Clark also ribbed Manning by admitting her favourite football player growing up was his brother, Peyton, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.

She said: “I actually had a Peyton Manning jersey growing up, not to make you mad Eli.”

Manning jokingly replied: “It makes me very mad.”

One-franchise star Manning was recently snubbed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

That comes despite him ranking 11th all-time in completions, passing yards and touchdowns, while also beating the GOAT Tom Brady and the New England Patriots to two Super Bowls.

However, former team-mate Shaun O’Hara insisted he was not upset or angry about the decision when speaking to the Daily Mail.

In the meantime, Clark has been back on court gearing up for the new WNBA season after helping the Fever to the play-offs last season.

Clark had a huge rivalry on and off court with fellow rookie Angel Reese throughout last season, though Reese’s Chicago Sky never made it to the play-offs.

But she could soon have another new rival to contend with thanks to JuJu Watkins making waves in college ball by surpassing Clark’s record of 1,662 points in her first two seasons with 1,684 and counting.