Sporting Club forward Viktor Gyökeres has finally reacted to Arsenal defender Gabriel ‘stealing’ his celebration.
Gyökeres, 26, is one of Europe's most in-form players, having scored 24 goals in 20 games so far this term.
But he could not find the net against Arsenal on Tuesday as the Gunners ran out 5-1 winners in the Portuguese capital.
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The Swede was undoubtedly disappointed by the result, but Gabriel rubbed salt in his wounds by mimicking his celebration.
Gabriel scored the Gunners’ third goal of the evening in first-half stoppage time.
The Brazilian timed his run perfectly to meet Declan Rice’s corner to put Arsenal three goals ahead.
He then surprisingly copied the Sporting forward’s celebration, interlocking his hands in front of his face in the same way as Gyökeres usually does.
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“Gabriel’s celebration?” said Gyökeres when speaking to ViaPlay.
“He’s welcome to steal it if he can’t create his own celebration!
“I didn’t know he did that, but it’s fun he likes my celebration.”
According to reports from the Metro, the celebration was thought to be ‘payback’ for when Pedro Goncalves ‘stole’ Granit Xhaka’s celebration after he scored at the Emirates, during Sporting’s penalty shoot-out victory over the Gunners in the Europa League in March 2023.
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The Sporting striker has been heavily linked with a move to one of Europe’s top clubs, with previous reports suggesting the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona had sent ‘scouts’ to the match on Tuesday.
The result saw Mikel Arteta’s side jump to seventh place in the 36-team Champions League group stage.
However, one negative of the night were the concerns over Gabriel’s fitness.
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Arteta addressed the topic after the game.
“We don’t know [about his fitness] because he said he was feeling some discomfort, so I was about to make the change of Ras [Raheem Sterling], but I couldn’t make the sub, and we had to make other ones,” he said in his post-match press conference.
He also expressed his delight at his side’s victory.
“I was so pleased with what I saw, and I knew that in that pathway, good things were going to happen in Europe,” explained the Arsenal boss.
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“Today, we've been able to do that and replicate it and be even more efficient in the opposition half.”
Topics: Arsenal, Champions League, Mikel Arteta, Sporting Lisbon
Luke Alfred Davies