Gyokeres primed for emotional Lisbon reunion as Arteta hails Sweden star ahead of Arsenal’s quarter-final clash | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has backed Viktor Gyokeres to create more moments for Arsenal ahead of the forward's reunion with Sporting CP.

Arsenal travel to face Sporting in the first leg of theirChampions League quarter-final tonight. The fixture marks a first return to Lisbon for Gyokeres, who joined Arsenal from the Portuguese champions last summer.

Gyokeres scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting and Arteta said the Swedish striker is 'very excited' to face his former team.

"I think he's very excited. Obviously, he's full of gratitude for his time here," Arteta said at hispre-game press conference.

"The way he talks about the club, the players, the staff, everybody around the club. The experience that he had, how important that part of his journey in Sporting has been. And now it's Arsenal, it's a quarter-final of theChampions League, he's never played at this level in the competition and obviously you can imagine what it means to him."

Gyokeres arrives into the game in good form. The 27-year-old has scored five goals in his last three games for club and country, after a starring role for Sweden during the international break.

He scored a hat-trick in his country's play-off semi-final against Ukraine, before his late winner against Poland sealed Sweden's place at the 2026 World Cup.

Arteta said Gyokeres is full of confidence and backed the forward to 'create more moments' for Arsenal as the North Londoners chase trophies this season.

"Those are experiences that you put in your veins, I would say. It doesn't get much better than putting your country into a World Cup with a goal that you scored.

"That's still there and that's going to be there for the rest of his career, like all the moments that he had here, the moments that he's creating for us. That's the story that he's creating and hopefully tomorrow he's going to show another very good side of him."