Grealish kept his promise to a young fan who has cerebral palsy with his celebration after scoring his first World Cup goal for England against Iran on Monday (local).
Grealish tapped home the final goal from close range in a 6-2 win and marked the moment with a broad smile and stretched his arms out to the side, rolling them in waves.
The Manchester City midfielder was keeping a pledge he made to 11-year-old Finlay.
Finlay met his favourite player after writing a letter to Grealish, whose sister Holly also has cerebral palsy.
“I wish there were more people in the world just like you who treat people with disabilities the same as anyone else,” Finlay had written.
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Grealish, 27, followed up with a letter of his own and also made a surprise visit to meet Finlay at a football session run by City’s charity program.
It was there that he pledged to dedicate his next goal to the boy with the arm gesture Grealish recreated in Qatar.
“First of all I’ve got to try and score, then I’ll do it for you, but I’ve only scored once this season,” Grealish said in a video released by the Premier League.
“I’ll do it for you, I promise, next time I score.”
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Grealish told BeIN Sports: “It was unbelievable, a great feeling. It was one of those that probably won’t kick in until later – like, I just scored in a World Cup.”
“At City about a month ago, I met a young lad called Finley who has cerebral palsy like my little sister. He wrote to me, saying I’m his idol and he loves the way I am with my little sister.
“I think he just liked me as a player also. I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wonderful family as well, such a nice family.
“We had a little laugh, a joke, I was with him for about 20 minutes. We ended up coming to the conclusion that next time I score I’ll do a celebration for him.
“So luckily for him today it was in the World Cup – I think he’d prefer that to the Premier League. So Finley that one is for you!”
Grealish’s sister and family were also in attendance in Qatar.
