Friday Cannon Fodder: celebration

Real Madrid take on Atlético Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano this weekend. What should be a great match is being overshadowed by The Discourse. Atleti captain Koke said that Vinicius Jr. should expect “trouble” if he scores and does his usual dancing celebration. Not to be outdone, a Spanish football agent made a racist comment about Vini Jr. on El Chiringuito, the Spanish football show that’s basically [insert idiotic yelling pundit here] with more absurdity and racism.

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway): there is absolutely no place for racism of any kind in football. Be it on the pitch, on the internet, in punditry, whatever. I hope that agent loses all of his black clients and never signs another one. There should be consequences for bad actions.

Putting that aside, the positive responses / support for Vini from around the football world have been great. With none better than Neymar and Vini’s exchange on Twitter.

I’ve been consistent: celebration is good. Fun is good. Football and sports should be fun. Let people enjoy themselves and their success. Miss me with this celebration police, tough guy, “respect for the game,” or whatever you want to call it behavior.

There is an easy way for you to stop guys from celebrating against your team: don’t let them score. Do your job. If they do theirs better, thems the breaks.