Daksh Vijay

Fan Verdict – Hugo Ekitike’s Gladiator Celebration Is Too Corny

Football Celebrations, Hugo Ekitike, Liverpool

Hugo Ekitike has, without a doubt, been one of the standout stars of the 25/26 season.

The forward gained popularity for his stunning performances for Frankfurt in the Bundesliga in the 24/25 season.

These performances saw him earn a staggering 79 million pound move to Liverpool in the summer transfer market.

Even though many of Liverpool’s stars haven’t performed to their best this season, Ekitike seems to have settled in quite nicely both in England and in Europe.

The forward has delivered 16 goals and 6 assists in 38 games and has, without a doubt, been Liverpool’s best attacker in this rollercoaster season.

His performance once again caught attention as he scored against Galatasaray on Wednesday in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League. The 4-0 win saw them come back from being 1-0 down in the first leg and advance to the quarter finals.

However, the performance wasn’t the only thing that caught fans’ attention as Ekitike’s celebration after scoring the goal was heavily debated upon on social media.

The origins of the goal have been debated upon, with some saying it’s connected the thumbs up gesture might be his take on Joaquin Phoenix’s famous scene in Gladiator, while others have mentioned it might be connected to a scene from the anime Naruto.

This is not the first case of anime-inspired celebrations we’ve seen, as players like Antoine Griezmann, Ibrahima Konate and Dominic Solanke have all openly been fans of anime and have used them as inspirations for their celebrations.

Ekitike’s innovative celebrations are nothing new, this particular one saw many fans calling it cringe and asking him to just knee slide or go back to the one he used at the start of the season.

Twitter user Nasir, in particular, made his preference for a knee slide known by saying, “Just do a knee slide, man, wtf is this?”

Quite frankly, people love Ekitike but some think that this celebration just isn’t as cold as he might think. The way he arches and tilts his head so fast it just looks weird. Would be better if he just looked down and slowly did the hand gesture.

Despite the criticisms and the dislike for the celebration, some fans have come out in Hugo’s defence by saying that football needs players with personality.

Ekitike himself is no stranger to changing up his celebrations every once in a while. Even during his time at Frankfurt, we saw him unleash a wide variety of celebrations.

In an era where we discuss how footballers are becoming more and more robotic and media-trained, players like Ekitike are a definitive breath of fresh air. Haters are going to hate, but honestly, Hugo should do his own thing for the best of the sport.

Ekitike will next be in Action against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on 21st March in the Premier League.

We hope he scores and entertains with something even better and more innovative.

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