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Should Viktor Gyökeres transforms into the attacker that each Arsenal supporters have been wishing for, then perhaps they will recall this night as the juncture his luck shifted. In keeping with the timeless attacker’s creed, it makes no difference how they find the net.

Following a streak of nine matches for his team and national side without a goal and pressure mounting on the man acquired for a hefty fee in the offseason, a tremendous feeling of ease swept over the Emirates Stadium when Gyökeres scuffed home from point-blank via a ricochet 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

Shortly after and to the excitement of the home faithful, his mask celebration inspired by the antagonist Bane in Batman, whose famous line 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 finish the demolition against Atlético Madrid. On the sidelines, Arteta raised his fists and gestured animatedly in the direction of his new centre forward, of whom he has spent the previous 14 days insisting the finest displays lay ahead.

“Such is soccer, and we can’t expect a player to switch environments and have him do the same thing instantly,” the Arsenal manager stated in a discussion with the Spanish newspaper Marca ahead of the fixture. “Situations are not the same. Each athlete anywhere need one thing: their mental condition to be at its peak. I informed Viktor in our initial discussion that the striker I sought for Arsenal was someone who could hold up mentally when they went six or eight games without scoring. Otherwise, you’re not good enough at this standard. That’s why I have a lot of faith in him.”

Early Challenges

When he was just 14 playing for IFK Aspudden-Tellus, who are situated in Stockholm’s southside districts, that Gyökeres first realised he would have to toughen up to succeed in his vocation. Criticised after a subpar outing by a coach who said he was not mentally equipped to excel in elite soccer, he ended up being converted from a flank attacker into a striker after signing for Brommapojkarna two years later. “Those words lingered and I recall it now,” he said recently.

Difficult Phase

Goal-shy since the win over Nottingham Forest at home back on 13 September, this has been one of the hardest times of his career. Gyökeres was sharply rebuked after Sweden were beaten by Kosovo and Switzerland in World Cup qualifiers in the past fortnight, with one newspaper describing his performance against the latter as “unnoticeable.”

He achieved an incredible 54 goals in 52 appearances across all competitions for Sporting last season, so the difficulty is clearly not his scoring ability. As Arteta has frequently pointed out, his overall contribution has given Arsenal an extra dimension in attack, even if the opportunities have not been in his favor.

Key Moments

This was clearly apparent during the initial 45 minutes of this elite matchup between two teams that had initially seemed evenly matched. There was a feeling that Gyökeres was trying too hard to stand out as he bustled about like a force of nature during the early stages. An Eberechi Eze shot that bounced on to the bar inside the opening five minutes was originated from some clever dribbling on the edge of the Atlético area that niftily took him away from his opponent, José María Giménez.

Giménez has the reputation of a man who could provoke conflict anywhere but is highly seasoned at this stage compared with Gyökeres, who is playing in only his second Champions League campaign after bagging a triple for Sporting against Manchester City last season that probably significantly contributed to influencing Arteta to take the plunge.

Relentless Effort

However having faced scrutiny that he was overweight after being absent for preparations in Portugal, Arsenal’s noticeably leaner striker pursued each opportunity as if his future was at stake. 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 effort disallowed for offside after converting Bukayo Saka’s cross and it did not happen until later that the Swede had his first sight of goal.

A sumptuous flick from Martinelli created an ideal chance, only for Jan Oblak to swiftly block an unconvincing toe-poke towards goal. At that stage it must have appeared that the first score would never come. But the goals flowed when Gabriel headed home Rice’s free-kick and Gyökeres was perfectly positioned to benefit as the forward with the disguise made his mark. “Hopefully this is the beginning of a great run,” said a delighted Arteta.