The best soccer celebrations stolen to the NBA NBA superstars have created a gesture so iconic that it is also copied by football players

Exultations for a goal scored have always represented a way through which a player can express himself and create his own trademark just like a round shot or a flying stunt. From Cristiano Ronaldo's SIUU to Luca Toni's hand to ear, the way a striker celebrates has become an icon to be used to amplify his image as much as the goals scored on the field. Soccer, however, still has some difficulty in its ability to make players into real brands compared, for example, to American sports where there is much more attention paid to image building. 

So much so that the colorful, iconic and swaggering celebration of the NBA superstars, outsized athletes who, with their oversized personalities, have become so representative that even the best soccer players on the planet have become passionate imitators.

Beto Betuncal - The Silencer

Beto Betucal obviously wasn't the first to imitate LeBron James's most famous exultation, in fact in chronological order he is definitely the last. Before him, athletes of the level of Usain Bolt, Nick Kyrgios and Derrick Henry and among footballers, Chicharito Hernandez and Christian Benteke, the most similar to the Udinese forward, had performed the step with high knees and low palms. 

The most famous came after a goal in the comfortable victory of Barcelona against Real Betis, a game in which he already knew he had a high chance of scoring so much to agree with a masseur to bring blue confetti with which to replicate the famous LeBron James' Chalk Toss. The practice with which James would get into the game mood by first banging and then throwing talcum powder in the air in front of the scorer's table. An image that has become LeBron's brand, to the point of framing the Cleveland arena after his incredible NBA title victory in 2016, and that Griezmann wanted to include in his NBA fanboy picture gallery.