The reason behind Henry Martín’s controversial celebration for América against Chivas

As if an emphatic 4-2 home defeat in the Clásico Nacional wasn’t bad enough, Chivas fans were enraged by the controversial celebration of Clausura 2023 top scorer Henry Martín, who netted Club América’s fourth goal of the game just after half-time, which put them 4-0 ahead at the time.

How did Martín celebarate his goal in the Clásico Nacional?

The Mexican international striker got on the end of a pinpoint cross from full-back Emilio Lara, stooping low to send a diving header beyond the despairing Miguel Jiménez in the home goal. Martín initially celebrated with teammates before he crouched down in front of the goal that Chivas were defending and imitated a dog urinating on the goal line. Needless to say, the home fans weren’t best pleased and referee Marco Ortiz showed him a yellow card.

Martín’s celebration didn’t go down at all well with players or supporters but didn’t lead to any further trouble. It could even be argued that the striker’s jibe served as extra motivation for Veljko Paunovic’s side, who reduced the deficit thanks to an own goal from Lara a few minutes later and scored another through Sergio Flores 10 minutes later which threatened to set up an unexpectedly tense finale to the clash for América.

Martín’s ‘tribute’ to América hero Blanco

The gesture appeared to be some sort of ‘tribute’ to América legend Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who celebrated in exactly the same way in a match between Las Águilas and Celaya in 1999 after scoring from the penalty spot in a 6-0 victory. After imitating a dog urinating on the goal line, Blanco then launched himself into the net, which Martín also copied.

Martín received plenty of criticism in the media for his actions, with former Mexico striker Jared Borgetti saying that the striker “should set a better example for young people” and ESPN journalist David Feitelson tweeting, “The way Henry Martín celebrated his goal is an embarrassment. He’s supposed to be one of América’s leaders and is the vice-captain, he should show more class and better manners”.

Martín apology on social media

The player himself then took to social media to explain and apologise for his actions: “I got carried away by the euphoria of scoring and I celebrated like my idol Cuauhtémoc. Apologies to anyone who was offended, that was never my intention”.