Oh Dele, what have you started?
Dele Alli scored what proved to be the decisive goal in Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Newcastle at the weekend. Since then, we’ve been hearing more about his celebration than the actual goal itself.
At first glance, it certainly doesn’t seem that difficult to emulate. Holding a thumb and finger to his eye, he simply rests his hand on his forehead. Not exactly a Lomana Lualua backflip, is it?
Yet as many have found in the time since, it’s actually not all that easy to pull off – at least not without doing yourself some form of wrist injury.
Alli’s England teammate Jesse Lingard seemingly has no such trouble executing the celebration (with some reports even claiming he was the man who originally created it). As Lingard’s Instagram Story revealed on Wednesday, he even encouraged his Manchester United teammates to have a stab at it while at their Carrington training complex.
Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Eric Bailly are amongst those who pass the test with flying colours at the first time of asking, as does new signing Diogo Dalot. Fred, another new arrival at Old Trafford this summer, initially struggles, as does his countryman Andreas Pereira.
Manchester United players doing the JLingzChallenge in the dressing room 😂 [jesse lingard ig] #MUFC pic.twitter.com/CwZggU1H3C
— MUFC Scoop (@MUFCScoop) August 15, 2018
Following this, Lingard also encourages the United players to have a go at doing his own celebration as part of a ‘JLingzChallenge’.
Lingard may have an opportunity to show the celebration off when United take on Brighton this Sunday. Having been given an extended rest after playing his part in England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals earlier this summer, Lingard is in contention to feature in Sunday’s game on the south coast after missing their opening day win over Leicester City last Friday.
