Leicester City forward Patson Daka has explained his backflip goal celebration after he scored in the team’s 4-0 win against Newcastle United at King Power Stadium on Sunday.
On his full Premier League home debut for the Foxes, the Zambia international scored the second goal and set up the fourth netted by James Maddison, to wrap up a memorable afternoon for the Brendan Rodgers-led side.
On finding the back of the net, his second goal for Leicester in the Premier League since arriving from Red Bull Salzburg, the Chipolopolo treated the fans to a top-class celebration – running towards the flag post before doing a backflip.
He has now explained the origin of the celebration.
“It’s since I was a kid,” Daka told LCFC TV. “I was doing it for fun. I was just doing it with my friends. Most of the time, I get lost in the moment when I’m celebrating.
“Whatever comes to my mind is what I end up doing. It’s not like I planned to do this… I just find myself doing it!”
On earning a start in the game ahead of regular starters Jamie Vardy and Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho, Daka said: “Every player looks forward to starting, but it’s also about what the coach thinks about the tactics going into that game.
“I think he believed I was the one he wanted to use. It’s not that I’m better than others, it’s the way he wanted to approach this game. I’m just thankful that I had my full debut here and to mark it with a goal and an assist was really brilliant for me, for my confidence, and also for the team.”
The win pushed the Foxes to position eight on the log and Daka believes it was a perfect response from their recent struggles that saw them lose matches against Aston Villa and Napoli in the Europa League.
“It’s a very perfect day for us; four goals, a clean sheet…a massive, massive win for us to gain our confidence going forward. It’s a big thing for us. We’ve been struggling a lot to keep a clean sheet and today we really worked hard to get that as a team," he said.
“We understand it’s not just about the backline to defend, it’s everyone in the team. You have to defend as a team, you have to attack as a team, and I think we really played according to the way we wanted today. It’s not only for us as players, but you can see how the fans enjoyed it. That's really big for us.”
Meanwhile, Rodgers has explained why Daka started in the game ahead of Vardy.
“We have an unbelievable striker in Jamie Vardy but he is human so we have to look after him. Patson Daka is very important for us.” Rodgers told SkySports.
“He is a great goalscorer and he showed that. Youri Tielemans' all round game... To come back, play Thursday and today showed his quality. He was very impressive.”
Next up for Daka and Leicester is a home game against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday.
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