Michail Antonio stands alone at the top of the list of West Ham’s Premier League scorers – so it was fitting he danced with himself under the London Stadium lights on Monday. After scoring his 48th top-flight goal for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Leicester, the striker celebrated surpassing Paolo di Canio’s record by waltzing with, lifting and kissing a Michail Antonio cardboard cut-out.
It was a Hollywood moment for a player who took the number nine shirt this summer and will now go down in West Ham folklore for his scoring exploits. “We were talking earlier in the week, and I said ‘you know what will be the best celebration? Save The Last Dance’,” said Antonio, who extended his record to 49 goals with his side’s fourth of the night. “Maybe somebody could pick me up like Baby? But I got a cardboard cut-out and picked that up.”
In the delirium of becoming a record-breaker he can be forgiven some confusion, but Antonio may have been mixing up his dance-themed movies – Baby, and the iconic lift, are from 1980s blockbuster Dirty Dancing rather than 2001’s Save The Last Dance. Whichever film provided the inspiration, his manager David Moyes was nonplussed by the celebrations.
“It’s not something I’m keen on,” he said.
