Granit Xhaka fools everyone with cheers of the year

The Swiss national team star from Leverkusen scored a goal against Mainz on Friday. But even more than his amazing goal, it was the way he celebrated that got people talking.

Bayer Leverkusen won the home match against Mainz 2-1 and became the first German team to remain unbeaten in 33 consecutive matches. The Bundesliga leaders also owe this success to Granit Xhaka. The Swiss international, who has excelled since the beginning of the season, was also decisive in Friday's match and scored after three minutes.

His shot was great, but what fans and TV viewers remember most is his celebration. Immediately after raising his arms, Xhaka started running and then suddenly stopped, grabbing the back of his left thigh. Then he tried to take a few steps while limping, but his teammates caught him.

There was panic on the Bayer Leverkusen bench. Coach Xabi Alonso and the medical staff initially thought it was a strain. But they thought better of it when they saw Xhaka messing with his teammates seconds later. His teammate Jeremy Frimpong is known to imitate his teammates when celebrating a goal. This is what the Dutchman did this time as well.

In interviews conducted after the match, Xhaka explained how the celebration came about. He told Sky that it had been nine years since he had scored in the Bundesliga. Xhaka said: “I was under a lot of pressure from the coaches and players, who were waiting for my first goal with this club.”

When asked about the worried faces of Alonso and his teammates, Xhaka said he actually celebrated in training. “After about eight or nine months, they should start to recognize me,” the midfielder joked. As Kicker wrote, the celebration goes back to Real Sociedad's Takefusa Kubo. This has also found its way into the EA SPORTS FC 24 football simulation.

Bayer Leverkusen is on its way to winning the first German championship title in its history. After 23 days of matches, the Ruhrbotclub team leads by 11 points over Bayern Munich, which hosts Leipzig on Saturday, and must win to remain in the race.

However, Xhaka doesn't want to get excited too soon. “Unfortunately I was able to experience that at Arsenal last year. We were ahead of Manchester City for a long time and we ended up losing the championship,” he told DAZN. Of course he wants to avoid such a scenario this year. (JKZ/SAMA)