Everton’s right-winger, Andros Townsend spoilt the Manchester United party at Old Trafford on Saturday, October 2, 2021, with his 65th-minute goal which earned Everton a point away from home.
In the midst of that, the 30-year-old English winger offended most of United’s supporters at Old Trafford when he decided to do Cristiano Ronaldo’s trademark “siu” celebration after scoring.
Andros Townsend’s equalizing goal came 8 minutes after coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided to take off Edison Cavani for Cristiano Ronaldo who started the game from the bench.
Hence, when Townsend did the “siu” celebration, some pundits and football fans believed that the celebration was to mock the 5 times Ballon d’Or winner.
At the end of the match which ended 1-1, Andros Townsend was seen having a chat with Cristiano Ronaldo and later exchanged jersey with the 36-year-old Portuguese football star who is referred to as one of the greatest footballers of all time.
Amidst the speculation that Andros Townsend did the siu celebration to mock Cristiano Ronaldo, Townsend explained during the post-match press conference that he did the celebration as a tribute to Ronaldo.
He revealed that Ronaldo is one of his football idols and he spent hours in training trying to analyze the way he plays football.
“It’s a mark of respect to a guy who influenced my career,” Townsend said.
“I spent many hours on the training pitch and in the video room trying to analyze his free-kicks and his stepovers and the way he dedicates himself to football.
“So it wasn’t an imitation, it was a mark of respect to one of my idols. I probably didn’t do the celebration justice and didn’t execute it perfectly.”
Afterward, Andros Townsend took to his Instagram page to share pictures from the game including Ronaldo’s jersey the footballer gave him after the match.
In the caption, Townsend wrote: “Nothing but respect to the 🐐🙇♂️”.
The 1-1 draw at Old Trafford has left Manchester United on the third spot on the league table pending the outcome of the Sunday league fixtures.
Manchester United and Everton that is currently sitting in the 4th spot have the same 14 points in 7 games, two points away from first-placed Chelsea.
After the 1-1 draw, the coach of Manchester United, Solskjaer, was asked why he decided to start Cristiano Ronaldo from the bench, the Norwegian tactician said he and the football star understood better.
“Me and him, we understand more than the experts and journalists for example”, he said.
“It’s about picking the right moments to play him, to not play him. He’s not a young puppy anymore, but he’s as professional as ever and ready to come on and he came on today with energy and a good attitude.”
