ENGLAND star Jack Grealish made his biggest fan’s day when he sat down for a one-on-one video call with the lucky lad.
The Three Lions and Man City ace performed his special goal celebration on Monday as a nod to young Finlay Fisher after netting against Iran.
Young Finlay, 11, who suffers from cerebral palsy, wrote to Grealish after learning that his idol’s sister has the same condition.
The youngster, who plays disability football at Manchester City, had the chance to meet Grealish earlier this month and asked him to perform a special celebration when he next scored.
When Grealish tucked home in England’s opening World Cup game, he wiggled his arms as he carried out the celebration, dubbed “The Finlay”.
And on Tuesday, Finlay was left gobsmacked after the former Aston Villa star personally video-called him for a chat.
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“I liked your goal,” he told Grealish, who replied: “Nah, you liked the celebration more!”
He joked that little Finlay had “been everywhere the past 24 hours, you’re famous now,” before asking him if he had thought he was going to do the celebration.
“I thought you’d forgotten,” he admitted.
Finlay almost missed the magic moment, as he only just got out of hospital in time to watch the game.
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He had injured his leg on Monday morning and only got home from A&E ten minutes before kickoff.
Grealish revealed that the celebration almost didn’t happen on Monday, as he had almost scored last week for City against Chelsea.
“I just felt like I was going to score and I didn’t score,” he said. “Yesterday, to be fair, I didn’t think I was going to score yesterday because the game was a bit gone by the time I’d come on.
“So I was buzzing to get a goal and then I could do my little celebration just for you. It was always in the back of my mind, mate.”
I was buzzing to get a goal and then I could do my little celebration just for you
Jack Grealish
Finlay also asked Grealish how he was finding Qatar, to which he replied: “It’s hot.”
He added that his England teammates were “buzzing” and were just “looking forward to the next game now”.
Finlay revealed during the call he was wearing the signed City shirt given to him by Grealish.
After a few minutes, Grealish ended the call as he had to shoot off to an England team meeting in ten minutes.
Fin looked starstruck after speaking to his hero.
It comes after the Premier League shared footage of the pair meeting in person, with the City star telling Finlay he would dedicate a celebration to him when he next scored.
Initially, Finlay hilariously asked for Grealish to do the worm dance, but after the England star admitted he couldn’t, Finlay settled for a wiggle of the arms.
And Grealish did exactly that after bagging a goal against Iran in England’s opening match.
He took to Instagram after the game, writing “For you Finlay” with a love heart emoji.
Finlay told the BBC’s Today Programme: “I thought he was going to score, and I was like, ‘Come on Grealish! Score a goal!’ And he finally scored. I knew, I had the feeling.
“I thought he’d actually forget but he stuck to his word and stayed true. I was just amazed.”
The young lad thanked Grealish for raising awareness for cerebral palsy by debuting the celebration in front of a global audience.
The Manchester City star came off the bench to score the team’s sixth goal as the Three Lions got their campaign off to a flier.
He put the gloss on the victory late on in what is England’s best ever start to a World Cup.
After tapping home from Callum Wilson’s unselfish cutback, Grealish wheeled away in celebration.
Following the final whistle, a topless Grealish rushed over to celebrate with his girlfriend Sasha Atwood in the stands.
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England sit top of Group B, ahead of the USA and Wales, who shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw on Monday.
Gareth Southgate’s side face the Yanks next on Friday in a 7pm kickoff, ahead of a hotly-anticipated clash with Wales on Tuesday, also at 7pm.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
