AT THE back of Sporting Lisbon’s official club shop next to the tills, there is a huge montage marking last season’s Primeira Liga success.
Viktor Gyokeres is bang in the middle, doing the signature mask celebration which was seen 97 times during two blistering seasons in Portugal.
After some early struggles, Gyokeres has finally found his feet in north London and he has been linking his fingers over his nose and mouth on a few more occasions for Arsenal.
The Swedish striker will be a returning hero for many as his prolific spell here helped Sporting overcome rivals Benfica and Porto to secure successive titles.
For others wearing green and white shirts, maybe the loud minority, he will return as a traitor after failing to turn up for training last summer and then refusing to play for the club again to force a move back to England.
Gyokeres will be on a mission at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, not so much to prove a point to his former fans but to help drag this stumbling Arsenal team from a fully-blown crisis and arguably, the biggest collapse we have ever seen from a team chasing multiple trophies.
GUNNER MISS IT
Arsenal rocked by double injury blow as pair are ruled out of Sporting game
GUN SHOW
Buy Arsenal v Sporting Lisbon tickets for Champions League quarter-final
While the former Coventry striker is improving, the same cannot be said for the rest of this struggling, injury-hit team which has lost some of its confidence and is making too many mistakes.
Arsenal simply cannot afford a third successive defeat.
The Carabao Cup final loss to Manchester City and FA Cup quarter-final disaster away to Southampton underlined that Mikel Arteta’s team do appear to have also lost some of the fear factor which stopped teams from attacking them.
Apart from denting their hopes of reaching the Champions League semi-finals for a second year in succession, a loss here would be another psychological blow in their Premier League title battle with Manchester City.
SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS
So this is where Gyokeres really must be at his best.
Gyokeres’ leveller at Southampton was the 17th goal for Arsenal and the second half of the season has been better than the first as he is now playing pain-free after some hamstring issues. He is also dealing with the pressure and expectation of playing for Arsenal and his team-mates are also on his wavelength more frequently although there is still room for improvement.
Sporting manager Rui Borges, asked about Gyokeres’ initial struggles in England, said: “I know he did not score many goals at first and the fans were suspicious because of what they paid for him but little-by-little, the truth has appeared. He is a great player and he will score goals.
“I believe that in the initial stage in England, he had to adapt. Now, he is proving he is a great forward and is back to what he does well and that is scoring goals.
“Viktor is a great player but we will not just focus on him. We will focus on the whole team as Arsenal will have great individual players.
“I’m sure he’ll be well received by his team-mates. We have a lot to thank him for. He’s made history at the club and in Portuguese football.”
Asked about Gyokeres leaving Sporting, Uruguayan wing-back Maxi Araujo said: “The group was very happy for him, he did great things for Sporting and we are all very happy because he deserved it, he worked a lot for it.
.
“I think he is doing well and is scoring a lot of goals. I am very happy for him and for what he has achieved with the Swedish national team.”
Arsenal signed the former Coventry forward for £54.8million in a deal worth £63.5m.
Gyokeres, 27, is certain to deliver 20 goals and assists (the current tally is 19) and he has already made over 20 appearances for the Gunners. Arsenal are also certain to qualify for the Champions League next term.
These are three clauses which are all due to be triggered meaning a further £3.5million will need to be paid to Sporting at the end of the season. As a result, the current transfer fee at the end of the season will stand at £58.3m.
Gyokeres’ confidence is also sky-high after his hat-trick against Ukraine helped Sweden to a World Cup play-off final before a late winner against Poland swept them into this summer’s tournament.
Arteta, quizzed about Gyokeres, said: “He’d been on our radar for years, but the most recent moment when we really looked at him as one of the top targets was around December 2024, when we started to really think about, especially the issue that we had with Kai (Havertz), and what we had to do in our format. He became one of the main candidates, and then the main candidate to be part of our club.
“I think he’s very excited about coming back. He’s full of gratitude for his time here. The way he talks about the club, the players, the staff, everybody around the club. The experience that he had and how important that part of his journey at Sporting has been.
“And now he’s at Arsenal. He’s in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and he’s never played at this level in the competition.
“He scored a big World Cup goal for Sweden and he is also creating big moments for us. Hopefully against Sporting, he will show another good side of himself.”