We saw a couple of fantastically cheeky goal celebrations this weekend from David Meyler and Samuel Eto’o, so of course we got thinking on more sardonic, self-referential ‘n’ saucy examples from (relatively) recent times…
David Meyler
The Hull City midfielder recreated the headbutt inflicted on him by Alan Pardew last week after scoring in the 3-0 FA Cup win over his old side Sunderland…
Wonder who David Meyler’s celebration was about? https://t.co/HERNyfVmE3
— Betfred (@Betfred) March 10, 2014
Samuel Eto’o
The Chelsea striker was referring to José Mourinho’s recent leaked comments about his age when he celebrated scoring in the 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the following manner…
"Ithink it's amazing, we knew he was preparing something" – @chelseafc boss Jose Mourinhoon that Eto'o celebration pic.twitter.com/mP2yhZysWj
— Premier League (@premierleague) March 8, 2014
Jason Puncheon
The winger was rumbled when he disappeared during Southampton’s 0-0 draw with Everton last season in order to, er, “pot the brown” – so when he scored against Manchester City soon afterwards he couldn’t resist, er, “wiping the slate clean”…
Luis Suárez
The Liverpool false 9 had been accused of diving by David Moyes in the run-up to last season’s Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, so when he opened the scoring he just had to run over to the current Manchester United manager and make his point…
Suárez and Moyes come head to head on Sunday, so stay tuned, folks!
Jimmy Bullard
As manager of Hull City in 2008-09, Phil Brown had dragged his players back onto the field at half-time of a game at Manchester City in order to publically admonish them for a performance that saw them already down 4-0.
In the following season’s corresponding fixture, Bullard converted a late leveller and immediately set about recreating the incident, much to the amusement of his teammates…
Craig Bellamy
In 2007, it was reported that the then Liverpool forward had attacked teammate John Arne Riise with a golf club after the Norwegian had refused to sing karaoke at a party. Bellamy celebrated his next goal by mimicking a golf swing – it was an equaliser against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, and Riise of all people popped up with the winner.
David Ginola
While at Aston Villa in 2000, the French winger hit back at being labelled as fat by his manager John Gregory by scoring against Manchester City and whipping off his shirt to reveal a distinctly muscular physique.
Robbie Fowler
In 1999, Fowler opened the scoring for Liverpool in the Merseyside derby at Anfield then proceeded to get down on his knees and started ‘sniffing’ the touchline in response to Everton fans’ accusations of drug abuse.
In 2004, he scored a header at Goodison Park for Manchester City and ran around the pitch smacking the top of his head. Read into that what you will.
England’s Euro ’96 team
Having been pictured out clubbing in the build-up to the European Championships, England’s players chose to celebrate Paul Gascoigne’s famous goal against Scotland by mimicking the “dentist’s chair” method of alcohol consumption that had proved so controversial in the aforementioned snaps…
Jürgen Klinsmann
The former Tottenham Hotspur striker was shrouded in accusations of being a diver when he arrived at White Hart Lane in 1994, so he went ahead and formulated his very own celebration in honour of it. Here are the highlights from his Spurs debut, in which he scored – and celebrated in his own iconic-to-be style – in a 4-3 win at Sheffield Wednesday…
Was Klinsmann a pioneer of the facetious goal celebration? He might very well have been.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Can you think of any cheeky goal celebrations we missed? Have your say in the comments bit, downwards…