Viktor Gyokeres took home the match ball after his superb hat-trick fired Sweden to a 3-1 World Cup play-off semi-final victory over Ukraine on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
And Arsenal fans will also be hoping that the confidence and efficiency Gyokeres showed in helping his country to within one game of this summer\u2019s World Cup finals is a good sign as they aim for Premier League and Champions League glory in the coming months.<\/p>\n
Gyokeres had not scored an international goal in almost two years, but he ended that run emphatically while giving an exemplary old-school No 9 performance.<\/p>\n
The opener came after just five minutes, when Gyokeres\u2019 excellent movement close to goal saw him escape both Ukraine centre-backs to meet Benjamin Nygren\u2019s cross and finish confidently past Ukraine goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.<\/p>\n
Ukraine began to dominate possession in what was a \u2018home\u2019 game for them, played \u2014 due to the war in their country \u2014 at the stadium of La Liga club Levante.<\/p>\n
But Sweden are well-drilled by\u00a0new coach Graham Potter and looked comfortable defending deep, with Gyokeres and strike partner Anthony Elanga always a threat on the counter-attack.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old\u2019s second goal came early in the second half, and it took a lot more work than his first.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/03\/27024956\/GettyImages-2267938672-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n Viktor Gyokeres celebrates his opening goal (Jose Jordan\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When Sweden goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt fired a long pass forward, Gyokeres was on his own up top. But he used his body and technique to pluck the ball out of the air and get it under control.<\/p>\n Immediately, he ran directly towards the Ukraine goal, backing centre-back Valeriy Bondar into the penalty box. Once he got into range, Gyokeres cut inside onto his right foot and clinically steered an unstoppable low shot to the net from 15 yards.<\/p>\n A desperate Ukraine began to throw more and more players forward, only for a poor pass from right-back Oleksandr Tymchyk to gift possession to Gyokeres near the halfway line.<\/p>\n There was nobody back to cover, so Gyokeres ran clear into the Ukraine half and tried to round goalkeeper Trubin, who sent him flying. It was a clear penalty, and there was never a doubt about who would be the taker. Trubin got a hand to the spot kick, but Gyokeres\u2019 powerful strike nestled in the net.<\/p>\n Most of the belief and energy had now drained out of the Ukraine supporters, who had earlier been fervently urging their team forward.<\/p>\n The Swedish counterparts, much fewer in number, in one corner of the Ciutat de Levante stadium began to joyously sing \u2018Viktor Gyokeres\u2019 to the tune of Give It Up by KC and The Sunshine Band.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s consolation came on 89 minutes, when substitute Matviy Ponomarenko headed home for 3-1, but their World Cup hopes were already over.<\/p>\n Asked at his post-match news conference if Gyokeres had been the difference between the two teams, Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cGyokeres played great tonight, he showed why he plays for Arsenal and is one of the best strikers in the world,\u201d Rebrov replied, although the former Tottenham Hotspur attacker also lamented the defensive mistakes his team had made in the first two goals.<\/p>\n Sweden coach Graham Potter was in a much happier mood when he spoke to the press afterwards, highlighting how much Gyokeres had also contributed to the team with his all-round performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI said go and score a hat-trick,\u201d joked Potter with a smile, when asked if he had said something special to Gyokeres pre-game. \u201cBut seriously, Viktor\u2019s performance was incredible, outside the goals. To score a hat-trick is one thing, but his hold-up play (and) defensive responsibility were also important. Vikor\u2019s performance will get the headlines, and rightly so, but he will also say that the team behind him were top.\u201d<\/p>\n The performance in such a crucial high-profile game for Sweden was also well-timed. Gyokeres failed to score as the team had taken just two points from six group games, drawing blanks in the first four outings and missing two others through a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n The last time he had found the net on the international stage was back in November 2024, when \u2014 still a Sporting CP player \u2014 he scored four in a 6-0 win over Azerbaijan, part of a nine-goal haul from six Nations League games in Sweden\u2019s League C group.<\/p>\n Such stats did bring to mind some of the criticism Gyokeres has faced since joining Arsenal for \u20ac63.5million (\u00a354.8m, $74.2m) from Sporting last summer, after scoring 79 goals in 83 games for the Lisbon club.<\/p>\n That led to an expectation that Gyokeres might hit the ground running in the Premier League. There were just five goals in his first 21 Premier League games, and none in any of Arsenal\u2019s clashes against rivals towards the top of the table.<\/p>\n The Swede\u2019s standout game for his club came in February\u2019s north London derby against Tottenham. A double there took him to 15 across all competitions this season, while his all-around performance was also widely praised, including by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.<\/p>\n Whether this season\u2019s Tottenham rank as a major rival is debatable, but there is value in having a forward who can clinically put away teams who defend deep, which has often caused Arsenal problems in the past.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s defending on Tuesday night in Valencia was not top-class, as Rebrov admitted. There was also a sense that the pressure of the occasion also got to a relatively young side, with a weight of expectation on their shoulders, given the situation in their country.<\/p>\n But Gyokeres was superbly efficient in how he took advantage of the opportunities he was offered \u2014 with the second goal in particular an example of how he can both make and take his own chances.<\/p>\n \n Gyokeres hitting his penalty on Thursday night (Jose Jordan\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He also appeared to be full of confidence and \u2014 with Liverpool\u2019s Alexander Isak out injured \u2014 to enjoy having the responsibility to be his team\u2019s main focal point in the attack.<\/p>\n Gyokeres and his international teammates flew back to Stockholm, and they will have home advantage in Tuesday\u2019s play-off final against Poland, who have their own danger man up front in Barcelona\u2019s Robert Lewandowski.<\/p>\n Arteta\u2019s team are nine points clear at the top of the Premier League, but have not been firing on all cylinders in attack in recent games, so would benefit from Gyokeres bringing his international form back to his club.<\/p>\n Coming soon, too, is Arsenal\u2019s Champions League quarter-finals against Gyokeres\u2019 former club Sporting, when there will also be pressure to perform.<\/p>\n So Gyokeres\u2019 hat-trick on Tuesday night in Valencia, and the boost of confidence that it should bring, came at a very useful moment, most obviously for Sweden, but also for Arsenal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Viktor Gyokeres took home the match ball after his superb hat-trick fired Sweden to a 3-1 World Cup play-off semi-final victory over Ukraine on Thursday night. And Arsenal fans will … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/03\/27024651\/GettyImages-2267954908-scaled.jpg\")
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