<
        >

          Tottenham star Son Heung-Min's new 'Spider-Man' goal celebration explained

          • ESPN
          Dec 6, 2021, 07:00 AM ET

          When Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-Min scored his side's third goal in Sunday's 3-0 win over Premier League strugglers Norwich City, he celebrated by imitating Spider-Man's trademark web-slinging action.

          The South Korea international -- ranked No. 6 among the world's top forwards in ESPN's FC 100 for 2021 -- adopted the pose after he recently met the man inside the suit, Tom Holland. The London-born actor has been doing the rounds on the UK and Europe to promote his latest outing as Peter Parker and his superhero alter-ego, "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which is released on Dec. 17.

          Holland, 25, recently revealed in an interview with GQ that he is a Tottenham fan (and not, as had been previously claimed, a supporter of Spurs' north London rivals Arsenal).

          In that interview, Holland said he would like to see a Tottenham vs. Brentford final in the Champions League one day, due to his uncle being a big Bees fan. He also bemoaned the fact that the newly promoted club might well beat his team if they were to play each other, such has been the upheaval at Spurs as they fired coach Nuno Espirito Santo after just four months in the job and replaced him with Antonio Conte.

          - ESPN+ guide: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more (U.S.)
          - Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
          - Don't have ESPN? Get instant access

          Shortly before that very fixture came around last week, Son and Holland got to meet up and they appeared equally star-struck as they exchanged signed merch. Even though Holland had got to rub shoulders with Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris last week, meeting one of his Tottenham heroes was clearly a big deal for him.

          And he got an extra treat when Son helped prove that Spurs were able to beat Brentford by scoring the second goal in Thursday's 2-0 win.

          Son was at it again on Sunday, when he rounded off a slick team move to seal the win over Norwich.

          And this time he got his friends in on the act too, with teammates Lucas Moura and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg joining in with their own impressions of your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

          Incredibly, given the tumultuous season that Spurs have had, that victory means they are just two points off the top four in the Premier League table with a game in hand.

          If they are able to stay the course and secure Champions League qualification for next season, Spurs will have pulled off the kind of odds-defying feat of heroism that would be worthy of Spider-Man himself.