5 players who started unique celebrations

Gabriel Batistuta – the sharpshooter

Batistuta was a remarkable goalscrorer. The forward started his career at Newell’s Old Boys in his native Argentina and went on to achieve legendary status during the course of his close to a decade-long stay at Italian giants Fiorentina for whom he played from 1991 until 2000.

He racked up 184 goals in 318 matches for La Viola and the tally puts him 12^th in the list of all-time leading Serie A goalscorers. He also held the record for most goals for the Argentina national team before being surpassed by Lionel Messi earlier this year. Batistuta was known for his sharpshooter celebration with his hands shaped in a machine gun mode aimed towards the spectators. His unique celebration has been replicated by many goalscorers since.

Tim Cahill – the shadow boxer

The forward played in the English league for the majority of his career, moving to Everton in 2004 after spending six years at Millwall. At Goodison Park he was loved by Evertonians especially at the times when he headed to the corner flag and did some shadow boxing with it because it indicated that he just scored a goal.

Cahill’s unique celebration was not limited to his club games; he did the same shadow boxing after scoring for the Australia national team as well. And he has done it plenty of times, having scored 48 times from 94 games. Now 36, he is still going strong.

Fabrizio Ravanelli – the shirt trick

The former Perugia, Juventus and Marseille forward used to celebrate his goals by lifting his shirt over his head while running. And with the striking prowess that he possessed there were many instances of Ravanelli doing his endearing celebration.

In 111 league games for the Old Lady, he scored 41 times. He also represented the Italy national team 22 times, scoring eight goals. Ravanelli went on to win the Serie A title in 1995 and the Champions League a year later with Juventus.

Jurgen Klinsmann – the dive

The current United States national team boss was a prolific striker in his playing days. Klinsmann turned out for Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Sampdoria during the course of his long playing career. He used to celebrate his goals by blissfully diving on the turf.

Son of a baker, Klinsmann won 82 caps for the Germany national team, scoring 40 goals in the process. He was part of the 1990 World Cup and 1996 European Championship-winning German sides. Klinsmann also collected a plethora of domestic titles during his playing career.

Vincenzo Montella – the aeroplane

The current AC Milan boss was a goalscorer par excellence during his playing career, and he uniquely marked his goals by pretending to fly like an aeroplane. Montella had a decade-long stint at Roma with whom he won the league title in the 2000/01 season.

He also won 20 caps for the Italian national team and scored three times.