10 of the best goal celebrations ... and 4 not so great

As Wayne Rooney's boxing celebration dominated the aftermath of Manchester United's 3-0 Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspur, here is a look at the best football has to offer in the post-goal celebration department.

Roma's Francesco Totti with a modern take on the traditional goal celebration. (AAP) Source: AP

Not content to ice his team's 3-0 win over Tottenham with a classy goal, Red Devils captain Wayne Rooney produced a celebration that ensured it became the main talking point after the match.

After sealing Spurs' fate, Rooney theatrically punched the air then fell to the ground in reference to a video that appeared on The Sun website hours earlier, in which Stoke City defender Phil Bardsley appears to knock Rooney out cold as the pair spar in the latter's kitchen.

Questions about what the EPL rivals were doing boxing in a kitchen are better left for another day, although Rooney tried to brush it off after the match, but the whole thing got The World Game wondering: where does Rooney's effort rank among these 10 classic goal celebrations?

10. Totti's selfie

A spectacular goal deserves a spectacular celebration. Especially when it's against your eternal enemy. AS Roma talisman Francesco Totti duly obliged after scoring the derby equaliser against Lazio this season, running off before grabbing his phone to snap a 'duck-face' selfie.

Totti has form in this regard. In 2007 he comandeered a TV camera, pointing it at Lazio fans, after scoring the equaliser in the corresponding fixture.

9. Crouch's robo-Kop

The best thing about watching two-metre tall England string bean Peter Crouch score a goal is what happens next: his iconic robot celebration.

Just last year Crouch unveiled a new celebration - an apparent salute to the chicken dance - after scoring for Stoke, but we reckon robo-Kop is still his best.

8. The dentist chair

Wayne Rooney wasn't the first (and won't be the last) to reference a media story in his goal celebration. During the 1996 European Championship, England players were photographed boozing it up in that most common of places to drown your sorrows: a dentist chair.

England's human headline, Paul Gascoigne, wasn't far from the action and it seemed only fitting to celebrate his wonder-goal against Scotland by laying on his back, dental-visit style, while team-mates mimmicked pouring beer into his mouth.

7. The bum bounce

In 2010 Congolese team TP Mazembe went on a fairytale run to the FIFA Club World Cup final, where it lost 3-0 to Inter Milan. But the real story was goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba's gift to the football word: the bunny hop.

Five years later and Kidiaba is still going strong, the bunny hop reappearing at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, much to the delight of goal celebration fans the world over.

6. Stjarnan FC

Does the name of this Icelandic football team ring a bell? Or would it have been better to write, 'that wacky team that came up with:

'The toilet':

'The bicycle':

'Giving birth':

'Swimming':

And our favourite, 'The fishing expedition'.

5. Samurai slash

The Estonian top flight just got interesting, thanks to Japanese goal sneak Hidetoshi Wakui. Here he is channelling Japan's fuedal warriors, with a samurai pantomime slashing of his approaching team-mates.

Not to be outdone, by himself, Wakui tweaked his moves slightly with a classic tenpin bowling re-enactment.

4. The urinating dog

Corner posts and sidelines always cop it in the celebration stakes - just look at Archie and Tim - but none more so than when Finidi George netted for Nigeria during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, then got down on all fours and lifted his leg at the corner post.

The Olyroos paid homage to George's 'weeing dog' move, against Canada at the 1996 Olympics, forming a conga line of pissing pooches.

3. The Superman

A celebration made famous by the ripped rigs of Mario Balotelli and Cristiano Ronaldo, has reached Asia, with Chongqin Lifan striker Chiming Zhang attracting world-wide attention at the weekend for his version of the increasingly popular celebration.

A word of warning though: don't try this number if you haven't spent the requisite hours in the gym.

2. The Centurion

France legend Eric Cantona and the Socceroos' own Mark Bresciano are perhaps the most famous proponents of a celebration understated in its extravegance, but as classy as any on this list: the centurion. Over to you Bresh:

1. Fowler's snort

Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler stoked the fires of the Merseyside derby when he celebrated a goal against Everton in 1999 by pretending to snort the white goal line with his nose.

Fowler said his controversial action was a retort at Toffees fans who had accused him of being a cocaine addict.

Fowler, who went on to grace the A-League for North Queensland Fury and Perth Glory, copped a $120,000 for his trouble - allegedly enough to buy a couple of bags of the real stuff.

When celebrations go wrong...

From the sublime to the sublimely ridiculous this lot prove some players should leave the celebrtations to the experts.

1. Player smashes head through dugout:

2. Forlan struggles to get shirt back on:

3. Robben's slide fail:

4. This...

Follow @tomfin