Arsenal dream ruined? Gyokeres scandal erupts in Portugal

Tom Weber

Updated: 15 Oct 2024 09:55 BST
3 min read

Viktor Gyokeres, Sporting CP, 2024/25 — © IMAGO

Viktor Gyokeres was caught on tape smoking a hookah and this has caused outrage in the Portuguese media.

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The Sporting CP striker has once again been in absolutely absurd form. After recording 43 goals and 15 assists last term, he has already netted 12 times and assisted three in just 11 games this season.

Gyokeres has been equally prolific for his country Sweden, scoring four and assisting three in four Nations League games. The 26-year-old enjoyed a successful end to the most recent international break as he scored an assist in a 3-0 win over Estonia.

After the game, however, the talk in the media was not about his performance on the pitch but about what happened off it. Ahead of the match, a video leaked on social media showing Gyokeres and his Sporting teammates in a club smoking a hookah and a bit of a scandal has erupted about this in Portugal.

Gyokeres responds

The country's largest newspaper Correio da Manha wrote: "Doctors warn of the risks of hookah smoking. Just like Gyokeres, more and more young people are starting to smoke aggressive substances."

Yet, the Arsenal-linked striker was predictably calm about this incident and expressed surprise that it has become such a big story, particularly when you consider that Portugal decriminalised all drug use in 2001.

"It was a bit unexpected that that [video] came out, but it's not something I think about. People can think what they want and it's nothing I care about," Gyokeres said after the Estonia match.

Responding to Portuguese media warning of the dangers of waterpipe smoking, the 26-year-old quipped: "It is more dangerous to meet me on the field. That's what they should think about instead of if you do that at some point."