'Took it to heart' - West Ham forward addresses Man Utd winger Alejandro Garnacho's celebration

Michail Antonio insists the Manchester United players were wrong to take Mohammed Kudus' 'signature' celebration to heart, following Alejandro Garnacho's decision to seemingly imitate it during last weekend's win over West Ham.

Garnacho and teammates Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo went viral during United's 3-0 win over the Hammers last weekend, with the trio all sitting on the Old Trafford advertising boards together after both of the Argentinian's goals.

West Ham star Kudus has regularly enjoyed that celebration and did so after scoring against United as part of a 2-0 win in December. And Antonio believes Garnacho was trying to 'rub it in' the Ghanaian's face.

“That is Kudus’ celebration, that’s Mo’s celebration," Antonio told The Footballer's Football podcast. "They took it to heart that he done that, [but] that's his signature celebration, no one was doing that before.

"I’m not gonna lie, I’m jealous because that celebration is hard, I wish I thought of that myself. So it’s either they were doing it to rub it in his face, or they were doing it because how good the celebration is.”

It's unclear exactly why Garnacho decided on that celebration but Kudus is not the first to do it. Cristiano Ronaldo famously did the same thing after scoring a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid and United's winger has often imitated his hero's moves.

After scoring that iconic overhead kick at Everton in November, the winger did Ronaldo's 'Siuuu' celebration and has made no secret of his love for the Portuguese icon. Earlier in the week, fellow Argentinian Angel Di Maria told Garnacho to stop copying Ronaldo and be more like Lionel Messi. So perhaps it was a reaction to that.

“I’m very happy because I scored two goals,” Garnacho said with a wry smile after full-time. “The celebration, there is some inspiration.” The United man gave no further explanation of his reasoning but seems to have ruffled a few feathers regardless.