Naruto fans go nuts as Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke does epic tribute after an impressive goal

Modified May 13, 2024 01:56 GMT

Naruto fans go nuts as Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke does epic tribute after an impressive goal (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Football is a sport no short of anime fans and Dominic Solanke seems to be one such fan. He paid tribute to a Naruto character after he scored a goal in his club's most recent match.

Dominic Solanke is not new to paying tribute to anime, as in the past, he has paid tribute to various characters. He paid tribute to Trafalgar Law from One Piece when he performed his 'Room' technique after scoring a goal. Moreover, he also paid tribute to Luffy from One Piece by performing his 'Gear 2' after scoring a goal.

His love for anime was once again evident in his recent match in which, after scoring a header, he used a mask and paid tribute to Tobi (Obito). While most of the fans declared the football player a favorite of theirs, some fans didn't like the way the player performed the tribute.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed here solely belong to the author.

Fans react to Dominic Solanke paying tribute to Tobi from Naruto

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Dominic Solanke is an English football player who is currently playing for the football club Bournemouth in the English Premier League. He plays as an attacker for his football club and has enjoyed playing with big clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea in the past.

Dominic Solanke's team played against football club Brentford on May 11, 2024. The match started with Solanke scoring a goal, which was disallowed on VAR (virtual assistant referee) basis. The same happened to the opposition team in the second half, following which, Brentford scored another goal.

Tobi as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

A few minutes after the goal, Solanke received a header from Marcos Senesi, another Bournemouth player, and scored a header. Following this, the player quickly ran towards the audience. He wore a mask and made a hand sign, paying tribute to one of the major antagonists of Naruto, Tobi.

Unfortunately, his team lost 1-2 against Brentford.

Tobi was later revealed as Obito during the Fourth Great Ninja War. Obito started the war because he couldn't get over the loss of Rin, but he redeemed himself by sacrificing himself for the main protagonist, which is the reason why he is one of the fan-favorite characters in the anime series.

Reaction from fans on the Obito tribute from the Premier League

Obito as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

The majority of the anime fandom praised the player for paying tribute to their favorite character from Naruto. Some fans even declared him their favorite player on this basis, while others called him the greatest of all time.

One fan even said that Obito Uchiha would be proud of the tribute he was paid in real life.

"Bro def my fav prem player aside from Chelsea players," a fan said.

"My goat," another fan wrote.

"Obito would be proud," another one said.

A lot of fans didn't like the tribute as they didn't like the mask Dominic Solanke used. To this day, there haven't been many tributes in football that involve props as players usually use motion to do so.

Also Read: Did Naruto forgive Obito for his crimes? Explored

So, quite a few called the player's act cringe, whereas some stopped him from doing this ever again. Moreover, one fan even called this action a horror, thus indicating that where this tribute was a hit in most fans' books, some fans just didn't like the way this tribute was performed.

"Genuinely stop," a fan said.

"What a horror, never again eh," another one said.

"Using props for celebrations is so cringe," another fan wrote.

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