Amad Diallo had his best game in a Manchester United shirt in their thrilling 3-2 win over Newcastle United. It took him over three years since joining from Atalanta (in 2021) to score his first Premier League goal for the club. It was a special one, as he blasted a loose ball through a sea of players to ease tensions at Old Trafford.
The Ivory Coast winger has come a long way in his career. From being a struggling child who illegally immigrated to Italy, he’s now a beloved figure among the Red Devils’ fanbase.
Amad could not hold his emotions in check and decided to celebrate his first league goal in style. The 21-year-old actually pulled off a variety of celebrations, which is understandable considering how he was sent off for taking his shirt off in scoring the winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Diallo decided to do a rather unique celebration by putting his left-hand pointed upwards in the air and right one on his heart. He closed his eyes while doing it, and one could decipher a kind of spiritual or religious significance to it. .
But it didn’t take much for fans to realize that Amad’s celebration was actually inspired by Real Madrid winger Arda Guler. The Turkish winger, who has scored in his last three matches for Los Blancos, is the one who made this celebration popular. Guler has often been seen doing this celebration after scoring goals and it’s clear that he inspired Diallo to replicate it.
After the win over Newcastle United, Amad revealed the reason behind his inspired celebration to the goal. It turns out that he was just keeping a promise made to a close friend, who had urged him to replicate Arda’s celebration once he scored his first Premier League goal. There is more relevance to it because this particular body stance is actually paying homage to their Islamic values.
Indeed, Guler has already revealed that this celebration is a mark of his devotion to Allah. When asked in an interview about this specific pose he makes after scoring, Arda had revealed: “My celebration is based on Tawakkul. I believe that everything comes from Allah”. In the Arabic language, the word ‘Tawakkul’ can be translated as ‘trust’ and is also described as the Islamic concept of ‘trusting in god’s plan’.
For those unknowing, Amad is a devout Muslim who has often showcased his unbreakable faith in his religion on his social media accounts. In fact, Diallo even stirred some talk on his decision to delete his X account and his Manchester United-related posts on Instagram earlier this season.
As many wondered if he did this because of frustration at not getting enough playing time, Diallo reassured that he only did it during the holy month of Ramadan to stop him from being distracted and explained: “I’ve deactivated my social media for a month just to focus on Ramadan. Stop the hatred, there’s nothing wrong with what I did. It’s holy month for me and social media is a place where there are bad things to see during fasting.”
The Real Madrid winger appears to be really proud of Amad for replicating his celebration and showing his devotion to his religion in front of thousands at Old Trafford and millions watching. He reacted to Diallo’s Instagram post of his celebratory stance and just posted three ‘fingers pointed upwards’ emojis to signify his ‘approval’ for Amad taking up his celebration.
Diallo is now determined to make that right-wing role at Manchester United his own. He’ll aim to continue scoring goals in crucial matches and pull off this special celebration and help his side lift the FA Cup title at Wembley in the upcoming final against Manchester City.
