Alejandro Garnacho pulls off 'ad board' celebration against West Ham despite being warned not to

Alejandro Garnacho performed the iconic 'ad board' celebration during Sunday's Premier League clash against West Ham, just days after being urged to avoid copying Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 19-year-old winger, who has been one of Manchester United's standout performers this season, gave Erik ten Hag's side a two-goal advantage when he netted a deflected effort in the 49th minute.

Garnacho proceeded to run over to the Old Trafford faithful before sitting on an ad board – something his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo, did back in 2017, after he scored a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

So why is this relevant? Earlier this week, Argentina teammate Angel di Maria praised Garnacho during an interview with newspaper Ole. but advised the teenager to not imitate the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.

He said: “The only thing I wouldn’t do is celebrate like Cristiano. I would score the goal and I would do like Messi does. I’ll stick with that."

Di Maria would later tip Garnacho to achieve great things in the game.

"He is a very fast player, he has incredible ability," the former United midfielder said.

"He is going to gain it with experience and coming to the national team, it is a place where you learn a lot and continue to improve. It helped me a lot to grow technically in every way, it is spectacular.

“I think he will grow with experience as well. When I was young I wanted to make the play 30 times in the game. Over the years you realise that if you do it 10, but you do it better, it’s worth it.

“He has a lot of future, a very big future. It depends on him, on his head, to be able to handle it. I don’t have much to say, there’s a reason he’s playing for Manchester United."

Garnacho, of course, grew up idolising former teammate Ronaldo.

In fact, after United's Europa League win over Sheriff Tiraspol in 2022, the Argentine came back onto the Old Trafford pitch, just so he could walk down the tunnel with his idol.

Shortly after the final whistle Garnacho posted a picture of himself and Ronaldo having a chat on the Old Trafford pitch alongside the caption: "I don't know if it's real or if I'm dreaming."

Garnacho went on to score a brace against West Ham on Sunday as United recorded a convincing 3-0 win over David Moyes' side.

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