There are plenty of things wrong with modern football, and the unwritten rule of not celebrating against your former club is one of them.
However, it’s been a groundbreaking week for the game, after not one, but two players found the courage to stand up the the terrace bullies and actually show pleasure in doing their job for their current employers.
On Monday, Danny Welbeck sent his former club Manchester United crashing out of the FA Cup, rounding David De Gea to send Arsenal into the last four.
And despite being deemed surplus to requirements at his boyhood club, and flogged to one of the club’s rivals, there were still plenty of people who were shocked that he’d have the gall to celebrate such a hugely important goal.
Welbeck didn’t go all Emmanuel Adebayor and actively try to antagonise his former fans, but clearly enjoyed the moment and rightly so.
Welbeck clearly started some form of movement, because tonight, former Chelsea man David Luiz also found the back of the net against the club that flogged him in the summer (albeit for a tasty fee).
Luiz’s late goal in his side’s crucial Champions League knockout game sent the tie to extra-time, and despite the enormity of the occasion, it actually came as a surprise to many people that he had the temerity to savour the occasion.
Imagine being so devoid of morals to celebrate scoring a goal against the fans that have routinely booed you for the previous hour and a half.
Be not afraid, goalscoring footballers. Be not afraid.
