The real reason Gabriel mocked Viktor Gyokeres’ celebration during Arsenal’s 5-1 win vs Sporting

Arsenal star Gabriel appeared to mock Viktor Gyokeres by copying his celebration after scoring for Arsenal during their 5-1 win over Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League. 

The Gunners took the lead early on in the 7th minute, with Gabriel Martinelli scoring from close range. Havertz then made it 2-0 with an expert finish in the 22nd minute.

The Brazilian centre-back then made it 3-0 right before half-time with a thumping header to give Arsenal a comfortable 3-0 lead at half-time.

Sporting pulled one back early in the second half, Gonçalo Inácio scoring in the 47th minute. However, any hopes of a comeback were dashed when they conceded a penalty in the 65th minute, which Saka slammed home.

And Trossard put the icing on the cake with a goal in the 82nd minute to finish off a 5 star performance from Mikel Arteta’s side.

Gabriel gets back at Sporting for trolling Arsenal last season

Gabriel’s antics became one of the talking points after the game, after the defender appeared to copy Gyokeres’ celebration after scoring his team’s 3rd goal.

After heading the ball in, he went over and copied the Sporting hitman’s iconic celebration by locking his fingers and putting his hands in front of his eyes.

Many wondered why Gabriel decided to troll the Sporting man, and according to Metro, it appears that the Arsenal man was getting his revenge for what one player did after Sporting’s win at the Emirates in the Europa League last year.

Granit Xhaka had put Arsenal ahead in the second leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie before Pedro Goncalves equalised to force extra time and a penalty shoot-out, which they ended up winning, knocking the Gunners out of the competition.

During Sporting’s celebrations after winning the tie, Pedro Goncalves was spotted mimicking Xhaka’s celebration in front of the travelling fans inside the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal’s Champions League campaign

With that win, they are now 7th in the table, having won 5 games, drawing 1 and losing 1. They are on 10 points, joint with 5th placed Bayer Leverkusen, and 6th placed Monaco.

They are in a decent position to qualify for the next round of the competition, but will have to continue their form in the last three games.