Michail Antonio’s now-iconic cardboard cut celebration has been found out to be part of an elaborate plan.
The striker buried a brace against Leicester City – making him West Ham’s all-time Premier League top goalscorer with 49 goals.
Social media, for the most part, enjoyed seeing the forward in such fine form – it’s been a torrid long road for Antonio but he’s come into the new season (and most of last) with a brilliant knack for finding the net. It’s the redemption story we all like to see.
After passing Paolo Di Canio’s Hammers’ record of 47 goals, Antonio headed for the crowd and was handed a life-size cutout of himself.
He lifted the cutout and celebrated with it, in what will surely be a hugely memorable moment in Premier History.
But not is all as it seems: footage has shown the striker speaking with a man behind the scenes before kick-off and handing him the cutout.
For those of you who thought it was a spontaneous celebration, that’s sadly not the case. But it was brilliant all the time.
A Michail moment
After the game, the striker spoke about how much surpassing the record meant for him – and of course the celebration.
“We were talking earlier in the week, and I said ‘you know what will be the best celebration? Save The Last Dance’.
“Maybe somebody could pick me up like Baby? But I got a cardboard cut-out and picked that up.”
Antonio said: “It sounds beautiful to be called West Ham’s top Premier League scorer. I feel like in the first half it affected how I was playing but the gaffer caned me at half-time and I played normally and managed to get my goals.”
“I’m never happy getting just one goal,” he said. “I don’t want anyone catching me by the time I leave here. I want to be up there in folklore forever.”
Featured image credit: Getty