The date is December 17, 2022. The location is the Coventry Building Society Arena. A Championship match between Coventry City and Swansea City is taking place, with the home side leading 2-0.
A 24-year-old Viktor Gyokeres is bearing down on goal. He checks onto his right foot and finishes to put Coventry 3-0 up and score his tenth goal of the season.
In celebrating the finish, the striker proceeds to do something that has become his trademark — as the world got to see again twice in quick succession during the second half of Arsenal’s 4-0 Champions League win over Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
The Swede wheels off in celebration, interlocks his hands, and clamps them over his mouth and nose, showing just his eyes, offering a menacing stare to the adoring Coventry fans. Callum O’Hare appears behind him and follows suit.
This was the first time Gyokeres performed his now iconic mask celebration, a signature move that Simon Lillibury, Coventry fan and host of the ThatCovPod podcast, said that every fan loved.
Gyokeres debuts his celebration in 2022 (Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)
“It took Vik some time to find his feet at Cov after an initial six-month loan spell, and in truth, it felt like the debut of his now famous celebration coincided with a rise in confidence.”
As Gyokeres continued to find the back of the net in the West Midlands, some questioned the origin of the celebration.
Gyokeres’ former Coventry team-mate Josh Eccles suggested it may be impersonating Hannibal Lecter’s mask when he told the Coventry Telegraph in March 2023: “I think it’s from a film character who eats people, because he destroys defenders!”
“He was asked about the celebration,” Lillibury tells The Athletic. “But, he kept the answer close to his chest. (Coventry manager) Mark Robins came out and said he knew what it meant, but there was little confirmation. The Silence of the Lambs was always suggested or Bane from Batman.
“He did say, ‘You want to know what it means? I’ll tell you all at the end of the season’ after scoring against Queens Park Rangers, but it never materialised after the play-off final defeat and his subsequent exit.
“We only got to see the celebration for just over six months, but it feels special Cov fans got to see it first.”
The striker scored 22 goals in all club competitions for Coventry in 2022-23, adding three more for his country. The goals helped earn the former Brighton & Hove Albion forward a move to Sporting CP in the summer of 2023.
The striker’s announcement video was an intense promo foreshadowing the goal-scoring, mask-wearing robot he would prove to be.
Gyokeres’ competitive Sporting debut, at home to Vizela, came around quickly, and it only took 14 minutes before Sporting fans saw the celebration. The ball was crossed in from the left into the Swede’s path. He moved the ball onto his left foot and hit a driven effort into the bottom corner.
As he did in Coventry 238 days prior, he ran to the corner flag and performed his mask celebration. He scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting, so fans of the Portuguese club became used to seeing their star striker perform his signature move.
The striker added evidence to the Bane from Batman theory when he posted a compilation video of himself on Instagram in June 2024 with a caption that quoted Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
“Nobody cared until I put on the mask,” Gyokeres wrote.
The centre-forward had been a first-team footballer for five years and had played for four clubs before his move to Coventry, where he made his name. Gyokeres was a late bloomer, but when the goals in the Championship came, and the accompanying celebration, so did the big moves, the social media following, and the international recognition.
However, when asked if holding his hands in front of his mouth as a celebration was him proving a point to the doubters after a Sweden game in 2023, Gyokeres replied: “No. That’s a good guess, but you’re completely wrong. You can have another guess the next time you interview me. I don’t know (why I’m being secretive about it). It’s fun when you guess wrong, so I’ll keep doing it.”
Arsenal, whom he joined this summer, visited the Estadio Jose Alvalade in the Champions League to face Sporting and Gyokeres in November 2024. The north London side left 5-1 victors, and after scoring Arsenal’s third goal, Gabriel celebrated by mimicking Gyokeres’ mask (he actually covered his eyes instead of his mouth).
Gabriel celebrates against Sporting last season (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
“He’s welcome to steal it if he can’t create his own celebration,” Gyokeres said in response to his future team-mate. “I didn’t know he did that, but it’s fun that he likes my celebration.”
Gyokeres joined Arsenal in July, and like when he made the move to Sporting, his announcement video showed him again putting on the mask. Even before he joined, a video circulated on social media showing 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly excitedly reacting to news of the Swede’s imminent move by imitating the celebration.
However, the footballing world finally got some clarity on the meaning behind it after Gyokeres’ move to Arsenal was confirmed.
In an interview with his new club, he said: “Before I got it, my friends were always saying to me to find my own celebration because they were very tired of me doing all kinds of stuff when I was celebrating.
“I had some time off. We went on vacation together. During that time, we came up with it after a while. We thought it looked good, and I started doing it straight away. It felt even better on the pitch.”
Now Gyokeres and his celebration have landed in north London, and the football world knows what to expect. So much so that Wayne Rooney’s eldest son Kai used it after scoring for Manchester United’s Under-16s at the SuperCupNI in July, as did South Africa’s former leg spinner Imran Tahir this summer. Former amateur footballer turned Olympic sprinter Emmanuel Eseme has now adopted the celebration as his own and received a video message from the Arsenal striker congratulating him on qualifying for last year’s Olympics in Paris.
Nobody cared until you put on the mask, Viktor? Everyone cares now.
