Why did Xhaka spread his hand in front of his nose to celebrate the goal?
In the 55th minute of the Fulham match in the 28th round of the Premier League on March 19, Xhaka smashed with Leandro Trosard and then penetrated the penalty area and scored in the near corner, raising the score to 3-0 for Arsenal.
The Swiss midfielder then ran to the corner flagpole, spreading his hand in front of his nose and towards the stands.
On Instagram, Leonita Lekaj - Xhaka's wife - then posted a photo of her daughter Ayana celebrating her father's goal in a similar style in the Emirates Stadium stands. Lekaj revealed a few weeks ago, Xhaka promised to celebrate like that if he scored to please his three-year-old daughter.
Xhaka "revealed" this kind of goal celebration in the Sporting match in the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 on March 16, after kicking open the scoring in the 19th minute. However, the joy that day was not there. back to the owner. In the second half, Pedro Goncalves scored a masterpiece from the middle of the field to equalize 1-1 and send the match into a penalty shootout. Here, Gabriel Martinelli missed a kick, causing Arsenal to lose 3-5.
After the match, Goncalves mocked Xhaka when he spread his hand in front of his nose as he walked to the stands with many Arsenal fans. The action of the Sporting midfielder made the host fans angry.
Yesterday, Xhaka's goal helped Arsenal crush Crystal Palace 4-1 to create an eight-point gap with Man City - the club did not play in the Premier League because of the FA Cup over the weekend. This result makes Arsenal the first club to win nine derbies in a season in the history of the English championship. The army under Mikel Arteta still has 22 wins in the Premier League this season - the same number as last season. This is also the record number of victories of the "Gunners" through the first 28 rounds in the Premier League.
After two weeks of making room for the national team, Arsenal will meet Leeds at the Emirates on April 1 and then march to Liverpool's Anfield on April 9.
Xhaka joined Arsenal in the summer of 2016 and was elected captain at the end of September 2019, replacing Laurent Koscielny - a central defender who moved to Bordeaux in the summer transfer window. Since then, many "Gunners" fans have protested against the decision of coach Unai Emery because they think the Swiss midfielder often makes mistakes. Just two months later, he was stripped of the captain's armband because of an incident with the home team's fans in the match against Crystal Palace.
At that time, Xhaka was close to leaving Arsenal, but agreed to stay after talking with new coach Arteta. This season, he has shone with a more advanced role in the Spaniard's system, contributing five assists and six goals in all competitions, including four in the Premier League and two in the Europa League. In total, Xhaka has scored 20 goals and 27 assists in 288 games across all competitions for Arsenal. He has a contract until the summer of 2024 and is valued at 30 million USD by Transfermarkt.
