What does the Amad Diallo goal celebration mean?
If there is one thing that Sunderland fans are getting used to seeing, it is Amad Diallo celebrating scoring goals.
The on-loan Manchester United man has scored four goals in his last six games for the Black Cats with the latest coming in the 3-0 win over Millwall.
Each one has been celebrated in the same way, with him covering his right ear and left eye. What, though, does it actually mean?
Amad Diallo goal celebration
The Amad Diallo goal celebration isn’t an Amad Diallo celebration at all really. It is a Willy Ta Bi celebration.
Willy Ta Bi was a teammate and compatriot of Diallo at Atalanta who sadly passed away in February 2021 of liver cancer. He was a player of real promise who had already won a full cap for the Ivory Coast
Just two weeks later, Amad scored the first senior goal of his career in a 1-1 Europa League draw with AC Milan, and he celebrated with his now customary routine as a way of paying tribute to his friend.
"My first thought was… mamma mia! I have scored a goal in a United shirt! I couldn’t believe it," Diallo told the official Man Utd website after the game. "My second thought was for Willy.
"Willy Braciano Ta Bi, my former team-mate, had died a couple of weeks earlier. Willy was a good friend of mine, another Ivorian in the youth team at Atalanta, and he had always showed me a specific goal celebration and he said that when he scored his first goal for the Atalanta first-team, that was how he was going to celebrate.
“So, as soon as I scored against Milan, that came into my mind. Celebrate like Willy.
"So I did his celebration. I wanted to remember him like that. I had to remember my good friend. It was a very emotional moment for me, as well as being a great moment in my career."