You can understand it if players are looking to get some frustration out after conceding a goal, so thumping the ball at the player who’s celebrating seems like the perfect place to start.
David de Gea was left looking foolish after Neal Maupay’s perfectly executed Panenka penalty against him today, so he reacted by kicking the ball at him as he ran off to celebrate:
Dunno if they showed this in the UK but moment of the half was De Gea kicking the ball at Maupay after he got sat on his arse.
???#bhafc pic.twitter.com/waAft4WHWz
— Tom (@twochoicestom) September 26, 2020
In some ways it’s a shame that he didn’t put much more force into that to achieve the full effect, but it’s also likely that not putting everything into the kick kept him out of the referee’s book too.