A footballer convinced his wife to get him a puppy after sparking a Twitter campaign — and he named it after the team he had just beat

Eric Lichaj celebrates scoring against Arsenal FC in the FA Cup.Getty Images

• The wife of Nottingham Forest defender Eric Lichaj promised the footballer she would get him a puppy if he scored a hat-trick in 2018.
• In the second match of the year, Lichaj scored twice and could have scored a third in an FA Cup game against Arsenal on Sunday.
• Though Lichaj failed to get the hat-trick, a Twitter campaign was launched and his wife relented.
• Yes, there’s a photo of the puppy.

A footballer’s wife has relented and bought her husband a puppy after the internet bombarded her Twitter account with gifs, memes, and videos of dogs.

Nottingham Forest defender Eric Lichaj was promised a puppy if he scored a hat-trick — three goals in a single game — in 2018.

The task would be hard enough for a striker, yet Lichaj plays as a full back, on the left or sometimes right side of Gary Brazil’s Forest team.

Defenders rarely score a hat-trick throughout their whole career, let alone in a single year. Lichaj’s wife Kathryn perhaps presumed she would be safe. No puppy would need to be bought.

But a man motivated by puppies is obviously a dangerous weapon because in Forest’s second match of 2018 — a third round FA Cup clash against Arsenal on January 7 — Lichaj scored not once, but twice.

Lichaj could have scored a third but was denied the opportunity to take two penalties, as Forest cruised past the Gunners by a 4-2 score.

The American international may have failed to get that hat-trick but he had not lost hope he would get his puppy.

On Monday, a Twitter campaign was launched called #GetEricADog and Sky said that Lichaj told “anyone who is bored” to send “dog pics, memes, gifs” to his wife. Lichaj’s teammates even got involved in the spamming.

The internet did its job. Kathryn Lichaj relented and the footballer got his puppy.

Here’s a photo of Lichaj and his dog — he even called the puppy Gunner, after the team he scored twice against.