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Football

15th Jun 2018

People think Ronaldo’s celebration was a dig at David De Gea

There are two theories behind the strange gesture

Reuben Pinder

It confused a lot of people

Spain 3-3 Portugal will go down in history as one of the great World Cup matches. It was an end to end, action packed match filled with drama. And that drama was kicked off by an early penalty that set the tie alight. As Ronaldo enticed Nacho into making a tackle before breaking away and drawing the foul, he had given his side the advantage within five minutes.

David De Gea tried his best to put Ronaldo off. He had to. Cristiano does not miss penalties, they’re his bread and butter. So what did he do? Walked up to the penalty spot in an attempt to get into Ronaldo’s head. How naive.

He was made to look a fool when Ronaldo sent him the wrong way, calm as you like, and gave Portugal the lead.

The Real Madrid star wheeled away, basking in his own glory, soaking up the adoration from the fans, pulling out his trademark celebration.

“SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII”, he shouted, before stroking an imaginary beard. Eh? Not seen this before. The symbolism behind the gesture was unknown, but there has been plenty of speculation.

Some football fans believe the gesture was mocking David De Gea – his beard in particular – after his attempts at mind games failed miserably.

https://twitter.com/JogaBonito_USA/status/1007685776879050758

https://twitter.com/nath___________/status/1007685531461914624

However, there was an alternative theory doing the rounds. Some believe that Ronaldo’s beard stroke was meant to mean that he was the ‘GOAT’ (Greatest of All Time), as opposed to Lionel Messi.