Douglas Luiz has explained his shimmying celebration during Aston Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United with Rio Ferdinand proclaiming that all is forgiven.
It’s fair to say celebrations have been in the news this week.
After Jamie Carragher’s head rocketed off to Mars in the aftermath of Liverpool’s thumping at the Emirates Stadium – Martin Odegaard earning the former defender’s ire for the heinous crime of enjoying a big win against a title rival – it was Douglas Luiz who this time found himself under the microscope.
The Aston Villa midfielder drew Unai Emery’s side level with Manchester United on Sunday afternoon, stabbing in from close range before bringing a little Samba style to proceedings with a swish of his shoulders.
Manchester United fight back to beat Aston Villa
It seems that Luiz’s moves were not so much a cheeky jibe at Erik ten Hag’s visitors, however, but rather an innocent tribute to the iconic Rio Carnival, which kicked off earlier in February.
“I’m good, thanks,” Luiz writes on X, reacting to Ferdinand’s post-match dig. “It’s just carnival time in Brazil.”
It appears that Luiz’s explanation was good enough for the Man United legend too, Ferdinand responding with a satisfied ‘love it!’.
Following Scott McTominay’s latest match-winning contribution – stepping off the bench to power in a late Diogo Dalot cross – it was the travelling support who were shimmying their hips at full-time, Manchester United moving to within six points of Tottenham Hotspur in the final Champions League place.
Champions League charge begins
“I don’t have an opinion about that,” a victorious Erik ten Hag told Sky Sports when asked if Luiz’s celebration had fired up his men. “I haven’t spoken to the players. Maybe it’s fuelising (sic, fuelling), I don’t know.
“I don’t think it is important. It is about us, we have to think about our game and not the opposition.
“I especially liked the first 20 minutes when we controlled the game. But once we scored we changed our mind-set. For me, you must play on. It was too much like a tennis match, we had problems in the counter-attack. It was so open and it could go two ways but we found the mentality and character to win the game.”
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