Phil Foden scored his first Manchester City hattrick to blow away Brentford, but it was his new ‘gun celebration’ that left a nasty feeling in the mouths of watchers.
The Englishman produced a sensational performance to help the Cityzens come from being a goal down to get a big win and position themselves strongly in the Premier League title race.
Foden decided to celebrate his goals in a rather unique way, bringing out a ‘gun celebration’ that saw him replicate a gesture of shooting a gun at someone in the ground.
The City winger isn’t really one to go over-the-top with goal celebrations, normally keeping it relatively ordinary and celebrating his goals like a normal football.
Why Did Phil Foden Do The Gun Celebration?
Well, it turns out that there is actually an inside meaning to Foden’s gun celebration, which looked quite similar to the celebration that was made famous by ex-Manchester United forward Edinson Cavani after scoring goals.
After the game, Foden revealed that he was trying to imitate the gesture of shooting a sniper – like one you’d probably see Agent 47 shooting in one of those Hitman games! Speaking about the actual meaning of the celebration, he said: “It’s a bit of banter between me and the lads. They say I shoot a lot in the five-a-side games. They call me the sniper.”
Normally, the five-a-side games take place at Manchester City’s training sessions and it seems like Foden can get a bit selfish with trying to shoot on a lot of occasions than pass to a free teammate in those matches. Well, for one, his decision to shoot more is definitely helping him this season – with the 23-year-old having scored eight goals in the Premier League this season.
Phil Foden Faces Pressure For Gun Celebration
While it seemed like Foden delighted his teammates and the travelling Manchester City supporters with his gun celebration at the Vitality Stadium, the same can’t be said of the response on social media. A lot of watchers were left unimpressed with him repeatedly pulling off the celebration of shooting an imaginary sniper gun at someone.
That is because a lot of kids watch Premier League matches and parents can be understandably perturbed to see them being influenced into thinking that it’s normal to shoot guns, imaginary or not. The fact that Foden did the same celebration for all three goals might’ve added to him finding even more flak from many supporters.
With that being said, Foden should probably smarten up about doing gun celebrations because it can lead to trouble at times. Cavani, for one, was actually sent off on one occasion for PSG many years ago when he got booked for doing the gun celebration after scoring and then sent off for pushing the referee afterwards.
Not jut that, but ex-Liverpool midfielder Milan Jovanovic almost got a lengthy ban in 2011 after scoring for Anderlecht against Brugge and then went onto pull off a celebration of doing a gesture of trying to shoot a gun at the Brugge fans. The Belgian government had reportedly contemplated the prospect of banning him for five years for the same, but he ended up avoiding it.
Now, Foden is facing no potential FA (Football Association) punishment for his goal celebration because he obviously didn’t direct it towards an opponent or any fan. But going by the backlash he’s faced for it, the Englishman would be smart not to repeat this celebration going forward.