Gabriel Gómez of Philadelphia Union kisses the flag of his native Panama after scoring a goal against the San Jose Earthquakes in a MLS game. His side lost 2-1.
Gómez made his debut for his country when he was still a teenager and now, aged 27-years-old, has represented Panama 75 times and played in three CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments.
Shunsuke Nakamura spent four years at Celtic and dismissed any transfer rumours linking him with other clubs, claiming that he would leave when his contract expired to return to his boyhood club, Yokohama F. Marinos.
However, after his contract ran out, he joined Espanyol on a free and kissed their badge at his unveiling.
Martin Crossa was at Municipal for one season but this didn’t stop him from kissing the badge when celebrating his goal against Comunicaciones.
Standard Liege’s captain, Igor De Camargo, kissed his jersey after scoring against Olympiakos during their UEFA Champions League game.
Six months later he announced he would be leaving them at the end of the season Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Botafogo’s Andre Lima kisses his badge after scoring against Cerro Porteno in the semifinal of the Sulamerica Cup. Thing is, he spent less than a season at the club and only played in 17 games.
In a friendly against China, Hugo Almeida kissed the badge after scoring the opening goal in a 2-0 win.
Almeida has made 39 appearances for his country and has scored 15 goals.
Daniele De Rossi joined Roma’s youth set up when he was 17-year-old and is the son of former Roma player and current Roma coach, Alberto De Rossi.
After scoring against Inter Milan in front of his home fans in 2010, he kissed the badge.
Diego Forlan boasts clubs like Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid on his CV, but the only badge that gets his love is that of the national team, Uruguay.
Forlan has played for his country 85 times over ten years and has scored 32 goals.
Eighteen months in to Borussia Dortmund career, Lucas Barrios kissed his club’s badge after scoring against VfL Wolfsburg.
After spending a season on loan with Parma from Manchester City, Valeri Bojinov kissed their badge after making his move permanent the following season and scoring against Brescia.
At the end of the season he was sold to Sporting Lisbon.
Liverpool and Everton will face each other on Saturday in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Everton are currently a point ahead of their local rivals in the league and enjoying much better form. Obviously form counts for nothing on derby day though…
After making his way up through the ranks, Javier Orozco made his debut for Cruz Azul against Tigres when he was 17-years-old…
Tunisia Esperance’s striker Michael Eneramo kissed the badge after scoring against Congolese TP Mazembe during their group African Champions League football match…
After rumours circulated that Milan Jovanovic was unhappy just a few weeks in to his Liverpool career, he kissed the badge after scoring against League Two side Northampton Town. Liverpool went on to lose the game on penalties…
A year in to his Bayer Leverkusen career, Eren Derdiyok kissed the badge after scoring against SV Werder Bremen.
Frank Lampard scored Chelsea’s first at Craven Cottage in the 2008/2009 season and followed it up with a kiss for the badge.
This evening, at Craven Cottage, Lampard opened the scoring for Chelsea again and again kissed the badge.
Radamel Falcao Garcia of Colombia celebrates his goal against Ecuador during a friendly match.
Sidney Sam joined Hamburger SV when he was 16-years-old and spent six years at the club before being sold to Bayer Leverkusen…
Shinji Kagawa kissed his badge as he celebrated scoring his team’s second goal against Qatar during their 2011 Asian Cup quarter-final. He scored two goals and they won 3-2. In the semi-final against South Korea, Kagawa broke his metatarsal and missed the final where Japan beat Australia after extra-time.
Kissing the badge is one of the most hideous clichés of modern football. But that doesn’t stop players puckering up and planting a smacker on the crest in desperate displays of cloying insincerity.
Obviously, you have to be terminally stupid not to realise the striker drooling on a jersey and beating his chest as if he trying to stave off an imminent cardiac arrest is just as likely to be making the same display of lifelong loyalty at another club in a season or two.
So why, every time this laughable minipantomime happens, does one end of the ground erupt in fury, while the other comes over all sentimental: ‘Look, he’s kissing our badge, he must love the club like we do’? Wrong on both counts.
