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After firing Sweden into a World Cup playoff final with a hat-trick against Ukraine, Viktor Gyökeres was asked whether he could repeat that performance in Tuesday's decisive clash with Robert Lewandowski's Poland.
"That wouldn't be such a bad thing, would it?" he replied with a grin.
Gyökeres was handed the responsibility of leading Sweden's attack in the ongoing absence of Liverpool's record signing Alexander Isak, carrying a weight that hasn't always been straightforward to manage.
"A hat-trick is just routine for him," Gyökeres's fellow Swede Anthony Elanga said casually after Thursday's 3–1 victory. Well, not exactly.
Arsenal's tireless striker has only surpassed a brace at international level on one previous occasion (netting four in a heavy defeat of Azerbaijan back in November 2024). Throughout Sweden's winless World Cup qualifying campaign, Gyökeres failed to find the net even once, let alone three times.
Yet, this was an evening the 27-year-old will long remember.
"Viktor's performance was obviously incredible," Sweden manager Graham Potter enthused. "Beyond the goals themselves, because scoring a hat-trick is one thing, I felt his overall link-up play and defensive contribution for the team were all part of a truly outstanding display."
Potter's Ukrainian counterpart Serhiy Rebrov was equally full of praise. "Gyökeres played brilliantly and made all the difference tonight," he acknowledged. "He demonstrated his quality and showed exactly why he plays for Arsenal and why he is among the elite strikers in Europe."
Gyökeres and Sweden will now face a striker who has held the title of Europe's premier finisher for well over a decade in Tuesday's single-leg World Cup playoff.
Emotional Lewandowski Strikes Confident Tone
Robert Lewandowski we łzach po meczu z Albanią 🥺💔 pic.twitter.com/hpq7Robpdv
At the midpoint of Thursday's playoff semifinals, Sweden appeared destined to face Albania. However, Lewandowski helped spark a second-half comeback in Warsaw with a leveler shortly after the hour before Piotr Zielinski wrapped up Poland's 2–1 victory in the 73rd minute.
In all honesty, it wasn't Lewandowski at his sharpest. Even the most dedicated fitness enthusiast cannot always escape the relentless march of time.
Lewandowski is a full decade older than Gyökeres and is firmly in the twilight of his playing days. Half of the Pole's La Liga outings for Barcelona this season have come off the bench, with Hansi Flick carefully managing his workload ahead of the season's crucial stages. The fact that the 37-year-old was able to complete 90 minutes against Albania speaks volumes about this meticulously managed approach.
The weight of the occasion overwhelmed Lewandowski at the final whistle, his eyes filling with tears of relief as his dream of reaching another World Cup—almost certainly the last of his career—remains very much alive.
"There are areas to improve, especially in our positioning," Lewandowski admitted, casting his eye toward Tuesday's meeting with Sweden in Stockholm, "but in the end, what will matter is qualifying for the World Cup.
"It's actually better when the first game isn't straightforward. We'll go into the final with a clear mind and show our stronger side on the road."
Just where Lewandowski's confidence in Poland's away record stems from is somewhat unclear. Since Euro 2024, the Eastern European side has played seven competitive matches on foreign soil, recording W3, D2, L2. There was a hard-earned draw against the Netherlands in Rotterdam last September, but Lewandowski and his teammates will face a stern test keeping Sweden at bay if Gyökeres can reproduce his heroics.
"Ultimately," Lewandowski wisely concluded, "it doesn't matter how we play. What matters is that we qualify for the World Cup."