Soccer

From dentist’s chair to Marmoush’s mask – unusual goal celebrations

Manchester City new boy Omar Marmoush once wore a Halloween mask to celebrate a goal.

Manchester City’s new signing Omar Marmoush is not shy when it comes to celebrating
Manchester City’s new signing Omar Marmoush is not shy when it comes to celebrating (PA Wire via DPA/PA)
By PA Sport Staff

Manchester City’s new signing Omar Marmoush grabbed the headlines for former club Eintracht Frankfurt in October by donning a freaky Halloween mask while celebrating a goal.

Here, the PA news agency looks at that incident and other memorably unusual goal celebrations.

Marmoush mask

The Egypt striker, who City have signed for a reported £59.1million plus £4.2m in add-ons, pulled off the stunt after stepping off the bench to score Frankfurt’s winner against Borussia Monchengladbach in the German Cup. Marmoush revealed in a post-match interview that the stunt was not his idea, but that of Eintracht’s second-choice goalkeeper Kaua Santos, and that he was not a horror movie fan, adding: “I think it worked very well.”

Hojlund’s gladiator ‘throat slit’

Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund celebrated the first of his Europa League double against Norwegian side Bodo Glimt in November with an animated thumbs-up gesture before turning his thumb down and running it menacingly across his neck in a throat-slitting gesture. The Denmark striker was recreating a scene from the film Gladiator II when the emperor decided whether a gladiator should die in the colosseum or be allowed to live.

Jackson in goal ‘Thriller’

Also this season, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson played to the cameras after scoring his second goal in his side’s 3-0 Premier League win at West Ham by recreating Michael Jackson’s famous dance routine from his Thriller video. The Senegal international later revealed he had taken inspiration from a dream he had had of him dancing to the soundtrack two nights earlier.

Gazza gets ‘dentist chair’ treatment

Paul Gascoigne and England team-mates re-enact the ‘dentist chair’ after scoring against Scotland
Paul Gascoigne and England team-mates re-enact the ‘dentist chair’ after scoring against Scotland (Adam Butler/PA)

Paul Gascoigne set the bar for whacky goal celebrations at Euro 96. His ‘dentist chair’ treatment by England team-mates after his superb effort against Scotland at Wembley is one of the most famous of all. It came after a night out in the lead-up to the tournament, when a drinking session in Hong Kong saw players being doused in alcohol while sat in a dentist’s chair, which was then replicated with a water bottle on the Wembley pitch.

Rooney a knockout!

When the former England captain hit the headlines in 2015 for being floored in his own kitchen during an impromptu sparring match with ex-Manchester United team-mate Phil Bardsley, there was only one way he would celebrate his next goal, which came in a 3-0 home win against Tottenham and was followed by a spot of shadow boxing before pretending to have been knocked out.

Bullard class clown

Bullard recreated boss Phil Brown’s memorable ‘half-time team talk’ after scoring for Hull against Manchester City
Bullard recreated boss Phil Brown’s memorable ‘half-time team talk’ after scoring for Hull against Manchester City (Martin Rickett/PA)

In December 2008 Hull were given a memorable on-pitch half-time ticking off by finger-wagging manager Phil Brown when they were 4-0 down to Manchester City. Fast forward 11 months to the corresponding fixture, and after class clown Bullard had scored a penalty he and his team-mates recreated the Premier League’s most famous team-talk, to the amusement of Brown, who applauded Bullard’s sense of humour.