Cristiano Ronaldo scores goals. Cristiano Ronaldo scores lots of goals.
And when he does, more often than not, he marks them with a particular celebration.
Yeah, you know the one. Having jogged towards the edge of the pitch, he’ll jump, spin 180° while in the air, and – on landing – flail his arms out by his sides. Usually, this is accompanied by him shouting something, almost always “Sí!” (Spanish for “yes”).
We’ve all seen it plenty of times. It’s even made it on to Fifa, for heaven’s sake. But what, exactly, does it actually mean?
Well, seemingly, it doesn’t have much meaning behind it other than “Here I am, look at me”. The accompanying yell Ronaldo lets out as part of the celebration, however, does have a bit of a story to it…
After winning the Ballon d’Or in 2015, Ronaldo famously let out a similar cry before embarking on his acceptance speech – much to the amusement of those watching.
Later asked about it, he explained he would use the cry to celebrate his goals or important victories with Real Madrid teammates.
“The scream? The players know I always do that shout when I score a goal or when we win,” he told Spanish TV station Cuarto at the time.
“It’s our team shout, from Real Madrid,” he continued.
Adding to this, Marca, the Spanish newspaper, delved a little deeper. They explained the “Sí” celebration was invented by Real Madrid players at some point in 2011.
Although it isn’t known if Ronaldo was the man to start it, it was originally used by some Real stars to celebrate goals in training sessions. This developed so that the team that won training ground matches would repeat the cry at the end of the session. In time, Ronaldo made it his own – and a big part of his most-replicated goal celebration.
