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Should Viktor Gyökeres transforms into the forward that each Arsenal fans have been praying for, then possibly they will reflect on this night as the moment his destiny changed. In keeping with the timeless attacker’s creed, it doesn’t matter how they hit the back of the net.

On the back of nine matches for his team and national side without a goal and expectations rising on the man signed for £64m in the summer, a huge wave of relief engulfed the Emirates Stadium when Gyökeres tapped in from near distance via a glance off David Hancko during a electrifying second half when Mikel Arteta’s side demonstrated once more that they are here to compete this season.

Remarkable Shift in Luck

Less than three minutes later and to the joy of the stadium crowd, his Bane-inspired gesture inspired by the character Bane in Batman, whose catchphrase is “nobody cared until I put on the mask,” was repeated once more after forcing home from Gabriel Magalhães’s header following a Declan Rice corner to complete the rout against Atlético Madrid. Down on the touchline, Arteta raised his fists and gestured animatedly in the direction of his recent signing, of whom he has spent the last fortnight insisting the best was yet to come.

“That’s the game, and we shouldn’t anticipate a player to switch environments and have him replicate his form immediately,” the Arsenal manager stated in a discussion with the Spanish newspaper Marca prior to the match. “Circumstances vary greatly. Each athlete anywhere need one thing: their mental condition to be at its best. I advised Viktor in our initial discussion that the striker I desired at Arsenal was someone who could remain strong psychologically when they faced a goal drought without scoring. Failing that, you’re not suited at this standard. That’s why I have a great belief in him.”

Formative Hurdles

It was as a 14-year-old playing for IFK Aspudden-Tellus, who are situated in Stockholm’s southside districts, that Gyökeres first understood he would have to develop a thick skin to succeed in his chosen profession. Admonished after a subpar outing by a coach who said he didn’t have the mentality to succeed in top-level football, he ended up being converted from a winger into a striker after signing for Brommapojkarna two years later. “That one stuck with me and I still remember it today,” he said recently.

Challenging Spell

Having failed to score since the win over Nottingham Forest in London back on 13 September, this has been one of the most testing periods of his time in football. Gyökeres was sharply rebuked after Sweden were beaten by Kosovo and Switzerland in World Cup qualifiers in the previous 14 days, with one newspaper describing his performance against the latter as “invisible.”

He recorded an astounding 54 goals in 52 appearances throughout the season for Sporting last season, so the problem is clearly not his goal conversion. As the manager has often noted, his all‑round play has given Arsenal an extra dimension in the final third, even if the openings have not come to him.

Game Analysis

This was certainly in evidence during the initial 45 minutes of this high‑quality encounter between two teams that had originally looked well-balanced. There was a impression that Gyökeres was pressing too much to impress as he ran aggressively like a force of nature during the opening minutes. An Eberechi Eze shot that bounced on to the bar inside the initial stages was originated from some sharp footwork on the edge of the Atlético area that niftily took him away from his marker, José María Giménez.

Giménez has the air of a man who could provoke conflict anywhere but is deeply knowledgeable at this stage compared with Gyökeres, who is competing in merely his second Champions League campaign after scoring a hat-trick for Sporting against Manchester City last season that likely played a key role to influencing Arteta to make the move.

Relentless Effort

Yet having attracted criticism that he was overweight after missing most of pre-season in Portugal, Arsenal’s considerably trimmer striker chased down every ball as if his career hung in the balance. Giménez was drawn into conceding a booking when Gyökeres collided with him on the edge of the Atlético area having simply held his position. Gabriel Martinelli saw his attempt canceled for offside after converting Bukayo Saka’s cross and it wasn’t until after the break that the Swede had his first sight of goal.

A brilliant pass from Martinelli created an ideal chance, only for Jan Oblak to promptly save an unconvincing toe-poke towards goal. Then it must have felt like the breakthrough would not arrive. But the goals flowed when Gabriel nodded in Rice’s free-kick and Gyökeres was perfectly positioned to benefit as the masked striker left his imprint. “With any luck this is the beginning of a great run,” said a delighted Arteta.