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Saturday 21 June 2025 13:59
Joshua Zirkzee was celebrating Kobbie Mainoo’s sublime goal against Lyon so keenly that he didn’t see his team-mate’s classy tribute to him.
Like everyone else inside Old Trafford, Josh couldn’t contain his emotions watching on from the director’s box alongside fellow Dutchman Matthijs de Ligt, when Kobbie levelled April’s epic Europa League quarter-final tie deep into extra-time.
Amid the dramatic and chaotic scenes unfolding, Mainoo replicated Zirkzee’s celebration that has become a familiar sight to United fans – firing imaginary guns with both hands while enjoying the moment in front of the supporters.
After Josh unfortunately hobbled off against Newcastle a few days earlier, Ruben Amorim confirmed in his pre-match press conference ahead of the second leg against Lyon that Zirkzee was likely to miss the rest of the season through injury – although he worked hard to recover in time to make his comeback in the Europa League final in Bilbao.
As the Reds celebrated booking a semi-final showdown with Athletic Club with a 5-4 win on the night, Kobbie shared a photo of his celebration to his millions of social media followers with the message: “Sending love to my shooter @zirkzee.”
Josh recently told Inside United magazine that it’s a nod to Quentin Tarantino’s Western movie Django Unchained, rather than mimicking iconic centre-forward Gabriel Batistuta’s celebration as some people have suggested.
In his big interview recently with club media, reflecting on his debut season as a Red, Zirkzee was asked about Kobbie’s gesture amid the limbs against Lyon.
The forward explained that it was only afterwards that he realised what had happened on the pitch – and that he’s not prepared to give up his celebration to Kobbie!
“For Kobbie Mainoo to do that for me, it just shows the love he has for his team-mate,” Josh told our reporter Harry Robinson.
“Kobbie is a great, great player. I didn’t expect him to do it. I hate to say it, but he might even have done it better than I did!
Inside Joshua Zirkzee’s debut season Video
Inside Joshua Zirkzee’s debut season
BIG INTERVIEW | Joshua Zirkzee opens up on his debut season via five big moments, quotes and questions…
“I’m sorry Kobs, I cannot hand it [the celebration] over to him. When he scored, I was celebrating so much that I didn’t see him doing it live. I was somewhere jumping on my left leg and pushing Matta [Matthijs de Ligt], grabbing him by the neck or whatever.
“So I saw it after the game, he showed me and said: ‘Hey man, did you see what I did?’ I said: ‘Yeah man, you scored a great goal, nice.’
“He said: ‘No, did you see the celebration?’ And I saw the picture I was like: ‘That looks better than any other picture I had doing that celebration!’
“It was a great moment, I felt honoured.”
Watch our big interview with Joshua Zirkzee for more insights from his debut season.
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Saturday 21 June 2025 13:59
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