Goal celebrations are an essential part of football around the world. Every time a goal is scored, it’s normal to see the player celebrate euphorically because he’s achieved his objective, which is to bring his team closer to victory. In many other cases, the player doesn’t celebrate because he’s either playing against his former team or simply because he doesn’t want to celebrate at that moment. In some of these celebrations, the footballer has been cautioned or even sanctioned because the celebration was insulting to a person, a group of people, a religion, etc.
There have been cases, so we can’t speak about all of them. But we can talk about three celebrations that happened recently that have left a lot to talk about, some because of how unique they were and others because of the aftermath they left behind.
Let’s start with Lucas Paquetá‘s goal celebration against Nottingham Forest. In the 88th minute, Paquetá scored his penalty and celebrated his goal in a very cool way. The Brazilian made a gesture with his hand as if answering the call, then “threw” the phone and then kissed the West Ham United badge, implying that he would stay with the team and not go anywhere else. This was specially significant as Paqueta was heavily rumored to join Aston Villa in the recently concluded summer transfer window.
Hold the phone… 📞 pic.twitter.com/qwn4u2Lgnb
— West Ham United (@WestHam) August 31, 2025
The second celebration takes us back to the match between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, a match that ended 3-0 in favor of the latter. The last goal was scored by Ismaila Sarr in the 78th minute. The celebration for this goal was funny because Sarr was lying on the ground for a few seconds as if he was unconscious, but his teammates arrived and Sarr got up as if nothing had happened and went back to celebrate properly. People can even see the referee calling the paramedics thinking Sarr was injured.
Some celebration this 🤣 pic.twitter.com/oeYY4gxAyz
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) September 1, 2025
The latest celebration isn’t a video, but rather a reaction to it, and it takes us back to the match between Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, where Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the first goal. After the celebration where Mateta kicked the corner flag, which is a traditional celebration for the Frenchman, the referee showed him a yellow card.
This was widely criticized, and in the tweet, you can see a screenshot of it where Chelsea FC footballer Cole Palmer commented, “Games gone” on Instagram, referring to the fact that you can’t even celebrate a goal anymore because you can receive a yellow flag. Amazing.
These three moments have been much talked about lately due to their outstanding performances. But Mateta’s celebration and its aftermath leave much to be discussed. But hey, let’s hope something like this doesn’t happen again, which is very difficult since being cautioned after celebrating a goal is more common than one might expect.
