Tottenham scraped past Newcastle United 2-1 in its opening match of the 2018-19 Premier League season, but it wasn’t just the game, or the lack of transfers from Spurs, that had everyone talking. Instead, it was the goal celebration from Dele Alli, which has given rise to the Dele Alli challenge.
His goal restored the lead for Tottenham, and despite it being a pretty neat header, his celebration was the focus. Fans and footballers (and even managers) alike have tried to do it, and many have failed.
The Dele Alli Challenge
Dele Alli trying to teach Spurs teammates his celebration is amazing...
[IG: dele] pic.twitter.com/Tpt0wHnCUU— COPA90 (@COPA90) August 13, 2018
Manchester United summer signing Fred might just be the worst yet at the Dele Alli challenge pic.twitter.com/LvOOU6LThC
— Indy Football (@IndyFootball) August 16, 2018
Spurs gaffer Mauricio Pochettino believes he is the best at it, but we should leave that claim for Dele Alli since he is the one who has started this frenzy.
Mauricio Pochettino on Dele Alli's goal celebration pic.twitter.com/6oTNps1pph
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) August 16, 2018
Here's how to do it:
While the main question on everyone’s mind is how on earth do you do the celebration, many others have been wondering what the meaning behind Alli’s celebration is.
Truth be told, we don’t really know what it means, and we can only speculate. Arsenal fans probably think he is signalling how many trophies Spurs will win this season. Ambitious Spurs fans might think the top three fingers on his forehead mean that they will either finish with three trophies or finish in the top three. Both of those are, to put it nicely, a little far-fetched.
To add to the mystery of the celebration, Dele Alli was in fact NOT the first player to do the celebration. Portsmouth striker Jamal Lowe was pictured in November 2017 doing the celebration, albeit not on the pitch during a game. Shocking, right?
Apparently Dele Alli has a 'new' goal celebration. Here is @officialpompey @JamzLowe back in November last year showing how it's done #trendsetter #JamznotDele pic.twitter.com/KJbm5ghfSm
— Simon Hill (@simon_a_hill) August 15, 2018
We just hope that Alli releases a step-by-step tutorial on how to do his infuriatingly difficult celebration. He’s probably already working on his next celebration too, and we’ll have to spend another 10 hours working out how to do it. Thanks, Dele.