{"id":941188,"date":"2026-05-06T09:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/941188\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T09:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:02:18","slug":"ian-wright-tells-arsenal-fans-to-ignore-the-celebration-police-after-wayne-rooney-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/941188\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Wright tells Arsenal fans to ignore the \u2018celebration police\u2019 after Wayne Rooney criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ian Wright<\/a> urged Arsenal fans to celebrate reaching the Champions League<\/a> final in full, despite criticism from pundit Wayne Rooney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta<\/a>\u2019s side booked their place in the showpiece in Budapest on 30 May with a 2-1 aggregate victory over Atletico Madrid<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka<\/a>\u2019s first-half tap-in in Tuesday\u2019s semi-final second leg<\/a> was enough to propel the Gunners to the final after a 1-1 stalemate in the first leg, putting them a step closer to a first Champions League title \u2013 as well as in the driving seat in the Premier League title race.<\/p>\n

Saka\u2019s goal at the Emirates Stadium sparked wild celebrations and fans flooded the pitch at full-time to celebrate with the players, leading to criticism from Rooney. <\/p>\n

He said on Amazon Prime: \u201cThey deserve to be in this position, but they haven\u2019t won it yet. I think the celebrations are a little bit too much. Celebrate when you win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Arsenal star Wright was quick to respond, posting a video to social media in which he said: \u201cArsenal fans, let me tell you something: enjoy this. The celebration police will be out in force, do not get nicked! <\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoy yourselves, football\u2019s about moments and this is a big moment. Enjoy it and let\u2019s hope that in the final and after the final we have another massive moment. It\u2019s a great day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Midfielder Declan Rice<\/a> was also quick to encourage celebrations, telling Amazon Prime after the win: \u201cI don\u2019t think you can underestimate what we have done in this competition up to this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have every right to celebrate that moment. The most prestigious competition in club football. We are just trying to soak it all in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew coming into the game what was at stake. If you can\u2019t get up for that, then you can\u2019t get up for any game of football. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we went 1-0 up, I knew we were going to win. I could feel something special building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BukayoBukayo Saka\u2019s goal made the difference (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

The atmosphere at the Emirates has occasionally come under criticism in recent seasons for failing to replicate the kind of vocal support enjoyed at other teams\u2019 home grounds. <\/p>\n

But a superb atmosphere was created from before kick-off on Tuesday night as supporters greeted the team bus with flares and chants, the first time that has happened, and Arteta paid tribute<\/a> to that warm reception afterwards.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt was an incredible night. We made history again together and I cannot be happier and prouder for everybody that\u2019s involved in this football club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe manner that we [were] received outside the stadium was special and unique. The atmosphere, our support has created the energy, the way they managed every ball with us… I never felt that in the stadium [before].<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew how much it meant to everybody… the boys did an incredible job and after 20 years and a second time in our history, we are back in the Champions League final.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[262852,13,12,262854,262853,10031,79,252693,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-941188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-20260505-215608","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-optamatchid2629031","12":"tag-optauuidem2v2c6m9jnpx7kkz1fomfz84","13":"tag-soccer","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-picture","16":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116526826358177642","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}