In modern-day football, wacky goal celebrations has been the go-to option for players to gain popularity or ‘go viral’ on the internet. Footballers often tend to reinvent their celebrations by doing something eye-catching after scoring.
This can sometimes include celebrations inspired by pop culture (like Viktor Gyokeres‘ mask celebration from Batman Villain ‘Bane’) or pulling off unique moves that entertains fans (like Cristiano Ronaldo’s SIUU). There have been a few interesting goal celebrations to have recently gone viral too.
Porro respect celebration
One came from Tottenham Hotspur Pedro Porro after got in the act in their 4-0 drubbing of Manchester City, scoring a steller goal to make it 3-0 and seal the win for his side. What he did after scoring was something rather memorable.
Porro initially refused to celebrate the goal wildly, being calm despite his teammates going wild.
This irked accusation that he didn’t celebrate ‘out of respect’ for his former side, only for Porro to shut that down by posting a picture on X (Twitter) where he proves the entire different thing.
Mario Kart celebration
The Spanish defender was also goaded into a rather brilliant celebration by James Maddison. The Englishman, who scored a brace in the first half, took Porro and Dominic Solanke (who assisted Pedro’s goal) aside after the celebrations.
The three Spurs players sat on the Etihad Stadium pitch before doing the gesture of ‘driving a car’ together. Well, it turns out that this was actually a cheeky nod to their love for Mario Kart! Maddison explained the reason for the nod to Mario Kart after the game, saying: “We’ve been battering it, honestly!
“Every coach journey, every plane journey, me, Pedro, Dom, Brennan (Johnson), Archie (Gray) and Brandon (Austin), we’ve a good little Mario Kart squad, and it gets competitive, I’ll tell you! We said, if we get the chance, we do it. And it was perfect that Pedro scored, because he plays all the time – great finish, and we got to do it.”
Not just that, but Porro even posted a picture on his Instagram stories after the match showing a leaderboard picture of their Mario Kart race standings – where he won the race! But the Tottenham players’ celebration wasn’t the only emotional one that went viral across the weekend.
Rooney goes wild
Wayne Rooney was an emotional figure in Plymouth Argyle’s 2-2 draw against Watford in the Championship at the weekend. He experienced all the highs and lows as his side fought their way to extend their unbeaten run to three games. Rooney’s most memorable moment came in the way he celebrated Andre Gray’s 96th-minute equalizer.
After seeing his strike score the clutch goal, Rooney ran away from his touchline in delight to celebrate with the fans after seeing his side snatch a point from the game. The entire Plymouth Argyle bench was in raptures after the goal, but the manager’s ecstatic reaction just goes onto show how much he loves and breathes football. He was even respectful enough to control his emotions and give a handshake to Watford boss Damon Lathrope after the full-time whistle.
Smoothest knee slide
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson delighted the travelling Eagles’ supporters with a neat celebration in their 2-2 draw against Aston Villa. After playing a key role in helping kick-start hte move leading to Justin Devenny’s goal in the added time of the first half, the Englishman did not shy away from celebrating it in style.
The goalkeeper pulled off a near-perfect knee slide to reach the Crystal Palace supporters and then have a little fun with them. It’s normally rare to see goalkeepers celebrate goals with knee celebrations, which makes Henderson’s one all the more impressive.
Muller channels inner Harry Kane
A ‘closer’ look at Bayern Munich forward Thomas Muller’s hilarious recreation of Harry Kane’s trademark celebration also became viral recently. It happened after the Bavarians dominant 4-0 win over Mainz in the DFP Pokal second round encounter in October.
Even though neither Muller nor Kane scored in that game, Muller couldn’t help but act like the spirit-raiser he is in the Bayern dressing room with his funny antics.
The experienced German forward started running with his arms stretched out and even kissed the king finger that Kane often does after scoring goals. He then started to do the ‘jump and throwing hands down’ celebration like the England captain, hilariously imitating his gestures after scoring.
Kane took it in good humour, sharing a laugh with the German forward as the two clearly seem to have formed a great bond at Bayern Munich and might pull off this celebration together if able to link-up for a goal in the near future.