The 23rd round of the Chinese Super League ended with Shandong Taishan surprisingly defeating Chengdu Rongcheng with a score of 3-0. The result shocked many fans. What was even more unexpected was that it was their iconic "trio" - Bi Jinhao, Chen Pu and Delgado - who scored for Taishan. The way these three players celebrated their goal was quite meaningful, but it also triggered a lot of controversy.
Only 13 minutes into the game, Taishan launched a quick attack from a sideline ball. Huang Zhengyu's long pass accurately found Bi Jinhao in the penalty area, who touched the ball with a header, followed by Chen Pu's fierce shot, but it was deflected by the keeper. Bi Jinhao finally put the ball into the net after successive headers in the box. It was his first goal since joining Taishan, and he expressed his joy with a double-finger ear plug.
In the 68th minute, Peng Xinli successfully cleared the ball and passed it to Chen Pu in the gap. Chen Pu broke through several defenders with the ball and shot the ball into the goal, giving Taishan a 2-0 lead. When celebrating, Chen Pu also used the ear plugging action, which seemed to vent a long suppressed emotion.
Toward the end of the match, Taishan was awarded a corner kick in the 89th minute. Li Yuanyi took the corner kick, and substitute Delgado grabbed the goal before the defenders and shot a pad shot to seal the victory for Taishan. This goal fully demonstrated Delgado's shooting skills. After the goal, he closed his mouth behind the goal, a common celebratory gesture in away games, but this caused extensive discussion among fans.
In fact, the celebrations do seem less than friendly, but as a layman, I understand that the players have their own emotions. It's natural for them to respond to accusations from fans in their own way. This backlash isn't directed at everyone, and the people who really feel uncomfortable have probably been criticized for some of their actions before. To put it in a less appropriate way, "If you don't do anything wrong, you don't have to be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door".
