Although accused as much as praised, there’s no denying that Iago Aspas’ tactical gesture during the Monday night fixture was the sort of footballing intelligence unlike anything seen before on the field.
Playing against Valencia at Estadio de Balaidos, the Celta’s talisman opened the scoring for the home side just about at the 10 minutes mark.
However, jubilation soon turned to gloom for the ex-Liverpool player after the striker appeared to have picked up an unfortunate injury following his goal celebration.
Mobbed by his teammate, Aspas seemed to confide in Brais Mendez, exchanging a few quick words with the midfielder.
He then proceeded to pick up what appeared to be a tactical booking, taking his shirt off and lying there on the ground before receiving a yellow card from the referee.
Aspas was then subbed off minutes later for Renato Tapia.
Fans were more than convinced that it was a deliberate attempt on Aspas’s part to get booked, seeing as how the striker was already on four yellow cards, one away from being suspended.
And realizing that he wouldn’t be able to continue playing, it was nothing short of a genius thinking from Aspas to serve a one-match suspension while being sidelined due to injury.
It being his 5th card of the season, the striker’s yellow cards tally will automatically refresh after Celta’s fixture against Mallorca, a game which Aspas was bound to miss in any case.
Fans were impressed by the striker’s forethought, some of them describing it as a level of intelligence not even Einstein had professed.
Iago Aspas scores a golazo vs. Valencia and injures himself in doing so, realizes he’s a yellow away from a suspension, and takes off his shirt in order to get booked and miss Friday’s match vs. Mallorca while he recovers.
— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) December 5, 2021
Not even Einstein reached these levels of intelligence. pic.twitter.com/SXEKD3BdWt
With their talisman gone, Celta ended up conceding two goals as Valencia went on to win the game 2-1.
