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Who is the man in the mask? | |
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Around the Academy: |
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Sava can't hide his delight, even with a mask on!
Style - 3
 Technique - 3 Originality - 6 Don't try it at home - 0 Many football players must often wish they could be someone else on the pitch. Who wouldn't want to be a David Beckham, Thierry Henry or Michael Owen? But what about Zorro - the masked hero from two centuries ago? Yep. Fulham's super striker Facundo Sava started it in their defeat over Charlton last year. And he's been back doing it again. This time after scoring the first goal in the 3-1 win over Birmingham in the FA Cup third round. It's a crazy new addition to the extensive repertoire of celebrating habits in the Premiership.
After blasting the ball into the net, the Argentine rolled his socks down and pulled out a black mask from his shin pads. He has explained that the tradition started when he was playing in his homeland. Fans would throw masks on to the pitch every time his team Gimnasia scored and the players would wear them. "I started doing the masks when I scored in the last minute of our local derby with Estudiantes," he revealed. "Then I started receiving masks from the fans - and ended up with 250 of them. "The question at every match was 'Which mask will he wear this time?' But I had to leave every mask apart from this one back in Argentina. "It's the first time I've done the mask in England but now I want to start the tradition again." Fulham coach Jean Tigana joked: "My job's very difficult already, without judging goal celebrations." You can be sure we haven't heard the last about this one. Watch out for Kylie Minogue or Tony Blair coming to a football pitch near you soon..........
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