Coventry star explains celebration ‘mix-up’ and begs fans not to see it as ‘offensive’ after now-deleted post

COVENTRY CITY star Milan van Ewijk has moved quickly to explain the “mix-up” over his “offensive” celebration against Millwall.

The Sky Blues came from behind to beat the Lions 2-1 at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Sunday.

PA

Coventry City’s Milan van Ewijk was involved in a controversial celebration photograph[/caption]

Coventry City FC

The star was trying to copy Haji Wright’s popular celebration while also referencing Mario Kart[/caption]

Romain Esse gave Millwall a 12th-minute lead but a quickfire double from Haji Wright after the break secured them the points.

However, Coventry and their 23-year-old Dutch full-back received some unwanted attention after moving up to sixth in the Championship table.

Following the full-time whistle, a photograph of Van Ewijk was posted on Coventry’s Instagram page.

However, it soon caught the eye as it appeared to show him saluting with one hand while gesturing a moustache with his finger.

Fans quickly jumped into the comments as they alluded to the sinister connotations of the snap.

That led to Coventry deleting the post after Van Ewijk had moved to clear up the storm with a comment of his own.

He wrote: “I got two celebrations mixed.. please don’t see this as offensive.”

Another post was then shared instead of it with different celebration photos, which the former Heerenveen ace replied to with: “Yeah, that’s a better pic.”

A Coventry spokesperson told SunSport: “Milan’s celebration was in regard to the gaming character ‘Mario’.

“Members of the Coventry City squad have been playing Mario Kart between themselves, which has started a friendly rivalry amongst the squad, as seen in our behind-the-scenes videos and recent celebrations at Norwich.

“Milan was putting his hand above his mouth to symbol Mario’s moustache from the video game.

“He also was raising his arm, copying the popular celebration his team-mate striker Haji Wright has done throughout his career.

“The club saw how the photo could be perceived without the context behind it, and as Milan quickly commented to clarify this, therefore the image was deleted.”

Prior to the game, Sky Blues scorer Wright spoke about how Van Ewijk was “big on celebrating”.

The USA international said: “He’s a fun guy to be around. A lot of jokes and a lot of fun.

“He’s a good player as well so he does make it easier for us.”

Van Ewijk arrived at Coventry from Eredivisie outfit Heerenveen last summer for £3.5m.

He has made 29 appearances for the club so far, scoring twice, and is expected to be part of Mark Robins’ line-up when they travel to Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday.