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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Alasdair Ferguson

The sweet reason behind John McGinn's iconic goggles celebration

DOES any other Scottish footballer have a more iconic celebration than fan favourite John McGinn?

The Aston Villa midfielder’s post-goal glasses gesture has been copied by fans up and down the country.

Scots will be hoping to see plenty of McGinn’s goggle celebrations at this summer's Euros as he plays a pivotal role in manager Steve’s Clarke team.

Although his antics seem playful and fun, there is a sweet message behind them. The celebration is straightforward.

When McGinn scores for a club or country, he joins both his thumbs and his index fingers together to form a circle, then flips them around and puts them up to his eyes to mimic a pair of goggles.

The celebration, although amusing, is a sweet dedication to his nephew, who has poor eyesight and requires goggles to play football.

Speaking about his iconic celebration in an interview, McGinn said: “My nephew, he's got poor eyesight, and he has to wear the goggles to play football.

“So, I decided it would maybe give him a bit of support to put the goggles on when I score.

“Now he's happy, his teammates at football up in Scotland carry on the celebration, and I’m sure that hopefully inspires a lot of children.

“A lot of people I played with when I was younger had to wear the goggles, and when you're younger, it's difficult.

“You feel socially kind of out of it, but it's just a wee thing, a nod to Jack, and now it's just kind of stuck.

“So, hopefully, if I'm scoring, I'm getting the goggles out.”

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