What an amazing week of football we’ve just witnessed – as we can expect to do pretty much every week now that we’re getting into the business end of the season and pressure catches up with some of the best in the business.
The wind has been blamed for the result of a football match, an unbeaten streak has continued in spite of defeat, and goals haven’t been awarded in spite of the ball making it several inches past the line.
The community of football players as a whole seems to have finally stumbled upon the popular internet meme “Salt bae”, that is actually Turkish chef Nusret Gokce – who’s all set to cash in on his internet fame by opening a restaurant in New York – and has adopted his signature move as an easy celebration.
Sorry Bastian Schweinsteiger, your thoughtful tribute to Federer’s Australian Open triumph just can’t match up to the humour quotient of our list this week.
#5) Eljero Elia and Dirk Kuyt do the salt bae celebration
First on our list of salt bae celebrations are Eljero Elia and Dirk Kuyt from Feyenoord who despatched NEC 4 – 0 last weekend to maintain their 5 point lead at the top of the Eredivisie. This was clearly part of their pre-match preparations as the celebration came out twice, first after Elia had assisted Steven Berghuis’ opener for their side and again when Kuyt assisted Elia to double the lead.
Not the most elegant tribute to the meme, but funny nonetheless.
Although one wonders if Feyenoord manager Sven van Beek disagrees, hauling off Elia at the beginning of the second half to pre-empt any further tributes.
#4)Danny Welbeck’s salt bae celebration
Danny Welbeck celebrated his first start of the season with two goals against Southampton in the FA Cup and pulled out much more dainty salt bae celebration than the Feyenoord players managed on both occasions.
On the comeback trail from his eight-month injury lay-off, Welbeck made the most of an error-prone inexperienced Southampton central defence to put two similar chances past teenage custodian Harry Lewis – one with a chip over him, and another rolled between his legs.
Both times he reeled off, curled his arm in the perfect impersonation of a teapot and sprinkled that magic salt all over his team – perhaps an extra dose on Theo Walcott who got a hat-trick to follow.
#3) Bayer Leverkusen’s salt bae celebration
If you thought we were done with the salt bae celebrations, you thought wrong, because it would be a shame to leave this most synchronised team effort from Bayer Leverkusen out of this list.
Not only did the whole team have it practised and ready to pop out the moment they scored a goal, the Bundesliga’s official YouTube channel was only too glad to acknowledge the meme parodied by the squad.
It is quite easy to guess from the video that the bug must have been transmitted to the side by the Turkish duo of Hakan Calhanoglu and Omer Toprak – quite the way to celebrate national pride, huh?
#2) Mourinho shares a laugh with the journalists
At the press conference prior to Manchester United’s 2 – 1 loss to Hull City in the second leg of the EFL Cup, Jose Mourinho was questioned about his shortly cropped hair and whether it indicated the onset of the business end of the season. In true Jose style, he responded that it was a privilege, and one that some of the members of the press contingent didn’t quite enjoy.
Ah, with the then unbeaten run bolstering his mood, even Jose’s had a bit of a laugh with the journalists this past week. One only wonders how long the good mood will continue if results continue to fall short in the Premier League.
#1) Manchester City players face off in a rooster race
With the global appeal of football bringing in higher television and merchandise revenues by the year, several Premier League giants have started making extra efforts to cater to their audiences, particularly in Asia. With the dawning of the Chinese year of the Rooster, we saw Jurgen Klopp participate in a game of table tennis last week, and Manchester City are not ones to be left behind.
What begins as a seemingly serious interview with players regarding the sporting abilities of a mystery athlete soon turns out to be discussions over the prospect of their rooster winning this harmless race against the clock.
What does Yaya Toure want to name his rooster? Does Zabaleta agree? Will Sagna’s enthusiastic cheerleading make the difference? Who wins this race? The answer to all these riveting questions in the video.
