Daniel Sturridge became synonymous for not only plundering goals with his left foot while playing next to Luis Suarez at Liverpool, but also for his iconic, dancing goal celebration.
With his arms outstretched and waving as he moves in a rhythm FourFourTwo can only dream about, Sturridge whacked out the celebration 21 times in the Premier League during the 2013/14 season for Liverpool, as they chased the title that term.
Now, over a decade on, the 34-year-old has revealed exactly why he used to perform that little dance whenever he found the back of the net - highlighting that he never actually intended to make something so iconic to himself.
"I’d done other celebrations before as well – after one of my early goals for Manchester City, I did a version of another dance from a movie, Stomp The Yard, which we’d watched the night before," Sturridge tells FFT.
"Then the other dance originated in my apartment in London. I was there with my cousins one night and started doing the dance literally out of nothing, just fooling around. Then I was like, 'Hey, I’m going to do this dance on Saturday if I score!' It was a joke, but I did it.
The first time I did it was for Chelsea against Manchester United, then I signed for Liverpool and kept it going, because we always used to do it when we went to parties or family functions together. It was my dance, but my cousins would always join in, so it became a joke between us. Then I did the dance again after I scored a third time, the crowd cheered, and I suddenly realised, ‘This is becoming a thing!’"
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Though Sturridge has never officially retired from professional football, the ex-England international has since moved into punditry since leaving his last club, Perth Glory, in 2022.
He worked for Sky Sports' coverage of the Premier League during the 2023/24 season, and is currently on punditry duty for FOX Sports in the United States during Euro 2024.
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