The 26-year-old Swede is currently among Europe’s top-performing players, having netted 24 goals in 20 matches this season.
However, Gyökeres was unable to add to his tally during Tuesday’s clash with Arsenal, where the Gunners secured an emphatic 5-1 victory in Lisbon. ..Continue Reading
The disappointing result for Sporting was made worse when Gabriel mockingly performed Gyökeres’ trademark celebration.
Gabriel had scored Arsenal’s third goal just before halftime, connecting with Declan Rice’s corner in a well-timed run to extend their lead.
After scoring, the Brazilian mimicked Gyökeres’ celebration by interlocking his hands in front of his face, a gesture the Swede is well-known for.
“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.”
The Metro reports that Gabriel’s celebration was seen as ‘revenge’ for Pedro Goncalves mimicking Granit Xhaka’s celebration during Sporting’s Europa League penalty shootout win over Arsenal at the Emirates in March 2023.
Meanwhile, the Sporting striker has drawn significant attention from Europe’s elite clubs, with previous reports linking him to Manchester United, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona. Scouts from these clubs were reportedly present at Tuesday’s game.
The result propelled Mikel Arteta’s team to seventh place in the 36-team Champions League group stage standings.
However, the victory was marred by concerns over Gabriel’s fitness, which Arteta addressed in his post-match comments.
“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 team’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.
“Today, we’ve been able to do that and replicate it and be even more efficient in the opposition half.”
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