How Do You Celebrate?

Times have been tough at Milan, and we haven’t had much to celebrate until recently. But with the goals and the results showing signs of returning, it made me wonder: what is everyone’s favorite goal celebration? So please read on and take the poll, and if you would let us know more about your choice(s) in the comment section below.

Stjarnan FC from Iceland are famous for their choreographed goal celebrations

I have mentioned before that my favorite celebration is the airplane. You may know it as Di Natale’s signature celebration, but many famous footballers have made it their own. In fact Vincenzo Montella was nicknamed “L’Aeroplanino” or “the little airplane” because it was his go-to celebration. But I think  it is my favorite because it is innocent and childlike, and because I imagine that scoring a goal makes you feel like you’re flying.

Mind you, there are many celebrations that I also love. One is going to get you carded, so not enough players do it anymore. It’s celebrating by taking one’s shirt off. And no, I don’t like it because I’m a woman (although I’m not going to complain about it, either.) For me, it is just a knee-jerk reaction to celebrate like this. In fact, it was an iconic moment for women’s football when Brandi Chastain ripped off her shirt in celebration in 1999 in the Women’s World Cup. However, such a brazen display of a very modest cut sports bra in a world where women are so sexualized caused so much controversy, they made it a bookable offense to remove your shirt, and I believe have now also banned the displaying of messages on an undershirt. Because that is clearly more important than issues like racism or basic human rights. Whatever, FIFA.

Male or female, there is just something about ripping off that shirt that is such a perfect way to celebrate

Luckily, there are so many other ways to celebrate, way too many to mention here. (And some that are too indecent to mention here, like Destro's infamous pole dancing one.) So I’ve tried to group them into categories and let you vote on which categories are your favorites. You can vote for as many as you like.

Whether your favorite(s) fit in a category or are stand alone, impromptu specials like Pazzini’s eagle celebration vs. Lazio last year, please feel free to tell us more in the comments.

This post inspired by the music of Kongos

Our next match is

Genoa vs. Milan

Monday, April 7 • 21:00 CEST (3:00pm EDT)